Investigating the conceptualisation of structure and form within literature, the Russian Formalists affected both the creation of art during the 1920s and 1930s and the development of literary theory as a scientific discipline. Crucial to the understanding of this theoretical movement, this collection of essays by and about the Russian Formalists features work by: - Boris M. Eichenbaum (The Theory of the Formal Method) - Viktor Shklvosky (The Mystery Novel: Dickens's Little Dorrit) - Roman Jakobson (On Realism in Art) - Mikhail Bakhtin (Discourse Typology in Prose) - Osip M. Brik (Contributions to the Study of Verse Language) A new introduction by Gerald L. Bruns provides a context for understanding why these works remain as important and influential now as when they were first written.