A work of technical skill as well as outstanding literary merit, Structuralist Poetics was awarded the 1975 James Russell Lowell Prize of the Modern Language Association. It was during the writing of this book that Culler developed his now famous and remarkably complex theory of poetics and narrative, and while never a populariser he nonetheless makes it crystal clear within these pages. The book itself combines a survey of structuralist literary criticism with a discussion about how English and American criticism might benefit from its lessons. Now reissued as a Routledge Classic with a brand new introduction from the author, Structuralist Poetics remains an arresting and vital tome and an essential guide for anyone interested in the importance of literature and the debates surrounding it.