1) They analyse (mainly) prose narratives, relating to text to some larger containing structure, such as:
a) the conventions of a particular literary genre, or
b) a network of inter textual connections, or
c) a projected model of an underlying universal narrative structure, or
d) a notion of narrative as a complex of recurrent patterns or motifs.
2) They internet literature in terms of a range of underlying parallels with the structures of language, as described by modern linguistics,.
3) They apply the concept of systematic patterning and structuring to the whole field of western culture, and across cultures, treating as 'systems of signs' anything from Ancient Greek Myths to brands of soap powder.
