The Dictionary includes terms used by literary writers, theorists, and critics of Literature or those who interpret literary texts. These terms facilitate a better understanding or interpretation of literary works.

It also encompasses non-literary terms (e.g., philosophical, psychological, etc.) and analyzes them within the context of the relationship between Literary Theory and other fields of knowledge.

The Dictionary begins with the issues and data of Literary Theory. However, its ultimate purpose is practical. It aims to serve as a tool for analyzing literary texts. Alongside literary creation, there has appeared—for better or worse—the "rationalization" of it since the age of the Sophists, Plato, and Aristotle. It is a fact that if the means with which we approach literature are poor, the results of any literary analysis will also be poor. Many examples of this impoverished approach exist abundantly. We see them both in published text analyses and in live teaching practice.

[Excerpt from the preface text]