Critic speak is tough, but we've got you covered.
Quote :"Problems in the Study of Language and Literature"
The history of literature (art), being simultaneous with other historical series, is characterized, as is each of these series, by an involved complex of specific structural laws. Without an elucidation of these laws, it is impossible to establish in a scientific manner the correlation between the literary series and other historical series.
There are specific laws that govern the development of literature. Think of it as the constitution of the land of books and poems. If we don't study and understand these laws, say Roman and Yuri, then don't get no illusions about understanding literature.
Not to mention how literature relates to history. First we need to figure out what these "literary laws" are that are involved in the development of literature, and then we can relate what's going on in literature with what's going on outside it. The point is, we have to study literature and understand it first.
Jakobson and Tynyanov really believed that literature was like this organism with its own skeleton and set of particular laws. Again, here we're seeing the Formalists' emphasis on a "scientific" point of view.
Also, notice that word "structural"? Well, that's very important. Because the Formalists and the Structuralists had tons in common. Here we're seeing Formalist and Structuralist ideas coming together. And that is how Formalism still breathes in literary theory today.