The Prison-House of Language: A Critical Account of Structuralism and Russian Formalism

by Fredric Jameson

Book Overview

Fredric Jameson's survey of Structuralism and Russian Formalism is, at the same time, a critique of their basic methodology. He lays bare the presuppositions of the two movements, clarifying the... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0691013160
• Release Date: February 1975
• Publisher: Princeton University Press
• Length: 230 Pages
• Weight: 0.64 lbs.
• Dimensions: 8.5" x 0.6" x 5.5"

Customer Reviews

The best and succinct introduction to structuralism and form

I'm surprised with the fact that nobody wrote the review on this book.As far as I've read on structuralism, this is the best, easy, succinct overview of structuralism. yep. the part 2 of this book is on the formalism. but my major is not literature. so I have no sufficient knowledge to assess the quality of that part. but as far as I 've read Jameson's books, it won't be the second to none. It's amazing how he could manage to write in such short volume to be understandable to layman. Jamesons's theoretical position is not that sympathetic to the tenet of structuralism. his orientation is Marxist. His assessment of structuralism betrays the title, 'The prison-house of langauge. his point is not that simple or vulgar as Terry Eagleton's. Jameson tried to syntehsize the point of Marxism's political approach, hermeneutics, and formalist approach of structuralism in his master piece, 'Political Unconsciuousness'. and his evaluation of structuralism does not lose intellectual fairness.