The work of Jonathan D. Culler has been of major importance in the critical and academic debate about the merits and demerits of what has been variously termed "theory," "literary theory," and "critical theory." With regard to the critical reception of structuralism, post-structuralism and deconstruction, Culler has written some of the most important studies and overviews. These works combine the difficult options of disseminating complex concepts and sometimes arcane terminology to a general readership and of refusing to oversimplify the theoretical arguments under discussion.

Jonathan Dwight Culler was born in Cleveland, Ohio, on 1 October 1944. His mother was Helen Lucille (Simpson) Culler, a professor at Southern Connecticut State College, and his father was Arthur Dwight Culler, a professor of English at Yale University. He was educated at Harvard University where he graduated summa cum laude with a degree in history and literature in 1966. After receiving his B.A. from...