Russian Formalism and Marxist criticism had a seismic impact on twentieth-century literary theory and the shockwaves are still felt today. First published in 1979, Tony Bennett’s Formalism and Marxism offered a ground-breaking interpretation of the Formalists’ achievements and demanded a new way forward in Marxist criticism. Bennett places key figures’ work in context and addresses such issues as aesthetics, linguistics and the category of literature, form and function or literary evolution. Addressing such crucial questions as ‘What is literature?’ or ‘How should it be studied and to what end?’, he explores ideas which should be considered by any student or reader of literature and provides a particular challenge to those interested in Marxist criticism. This classic text still offers the best available starting point for those new to the field, as well as representing a crucial intervention in twentieth-century literary theory.