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

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 relationship between the synchronic methods of Saussurean linguistics and the realities of time and history.