Has "theory" neglected literature? Often literary and cultural theory, which goes by the nickname "Theory," has seemed to be the theory of everything except literature: theory of language, of sexuality, of history, of the body, of the psyche, of meaning (or meaninglessness), of politics, but not theory of literature. In this timely and wide-ranging book, Jonathan Culler, whose lucid analyses of structuralism, semiotics, and deconstruction have been prized by generations of readers, explores the place of the literary in theory. If theory has sometimes neglected literature, the literary has, Culler argues, retained a crucial if misunderstood role. Culler's account of the fortunes of the literary in theory, of the resistance to theory, and of key theoretical concepts--text, sign, interpretation, performative, and omniscience--provides valuable insight into today's theoretical debates; and his analysis of various disciplinary practices explores the possibilities of theory for the present and the future.

喬納森·卡勒，美國康奈爾大學英文和比較文學講座教授，也是當代美國著名的文學理論傢之一，在文學批評、文學理論和比較文學研究中均取得突齣成就。在歐陸結構主義和解構主義被引入美國學界，並迅速獲得普及的過程中，他可以說是重要的傳道人之一。他的兩部力作《結構主義詩學》和《論解構》，對歐陸結構主義的理論和方法作瞭準確的梳理和解釋。