As North American intellectual society developed during the 1950s, becoming more rigid in its scientific and managerial modes of thought and intellect, a more ambitious form critical approach seemed required, which was the structural one. Undoubtedly, “new” ideas often provoke anti-intellectual reactions and this has been particularly true of the reception of theories of “structuralism” (Selden 51). Structuralism has had a profound impact on disciplines ranging from literary theory to sociology; From history to psychoanalysis. Structuralist approaches to literature challenge some of the ordinary reader's most cherished beliefs and assumptions. For a long time, readers have believed that any literary work is considered the fruit of an author's creativity and expresses the author's inner thoughts and feelings. Additionally, the literary work was rated as “good” if it tells the truth about human life. However, the main premises of structuralist theories have attempted to convince readers that the author is "dead" and that the literary work has no truth-telling function. Structuralism distinguishes between a work and a text. A work presupposes the author and his mastery of meaning. In contrast, a text is self-contained and self-contained and is considered independently of the author and, with structural theories, meaning is interpreted from the text. Therefore, this article aims to trace the development of structuralism, its main premises and its transition to post-structuralism. In his “Introduction” to Structuralism: Critical Concepts in Literary and Cultural Studies, English theorist Jonathan D. Culler (1944- ) identifies structuralism as “a broad intellectual movement in the fields of the humanities and social sciences..... . middle of article ......ersity Press: New York, 1991. Dosse, François. History of structuralism, the rising sign, 1945-1966. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota, 1997. Print. Groden, Michael and Martin Kreiswirth. The Johns Hopkins Guide to Literary Theory and Criticism. Johns Hopkins UP: Baltimore, 1994. Harris, R. (1983), “Translator's Introduction”, in de Saussure, F. (Ed.), Courses in General Linguistics, trans. by Harris, R., Open Court Classics, Chicago, IL. Johnson, Matthew. Archaeological theory: an introduction. Oxford, UK: Blackwell, 1999. Print. Lett, James William. The human enterprise: a critical introduction to anthropological theory. Boulder: Westview, 1987. Print. Saussure, Ferdinand De. Course in general linguistics. New York: Philosophical Library, 1959. Print. Selden, Raman. A Reader's Guide to Contemporary Literary Theory. Lexington, KY: University of Kentucky, 1985. Print.