Victor shklovsky, art as technique born in 1893, victor shklovsky was a leading figure in the school of literary and linguistic theory known as russian formalism, which flourished at the time of the russian revolution. An essay by nasrullah mambrol on march 17, 2016 10. He was also associated with the russian army during the 1 st world war. In the article, i have decided to sketch a brief portrait of the most significant russian formalist. Petersburg, russiadied december 8, 1984, moscow, russian literary critic and novelist. Pdf russian formalism for and against digital humanities. He was a major voice of formalism, a critical school that had great influence in russian literature in the 1920s. Victor shklovosky, a founder of the opayaz group in russia, occupies a significant position in russian formalism by. Examining formalism in light of more recent developments in literary theory, peter steiner here offers the. It includes the work of a number of highly influential russian and soviet scholars such as viktor shklovsky, yuri tynianov, vladimir propp, boris eichenbaum, roman jakobson, boris tomashevsky, grigory gukovsky who revolutionised literary criticism between 1914 and the 1930s by establishing the. It is a school of literary criticism that originated in. Two of shklovskys articles, the resurrection of the word and art as device are taken as a starting point for paving the way for a detailed analysis of the formal terminology. Formalism is a school of literary criticism that originated in the former soviet union during the first world war. A type of literary theory and analysis which originated in moscow and st.
A school of literary theory and analysis that emerged in russia around 1915, devoting itself to the study of literariness, i. The russian formalists emerged from the russian revolution with ideas about the independence of literature. Viktor shklovsky 18931984 was a leading figure in the russian formalist movement of the 1920s and had a profound effect on twentiethcentury russian literature. Art as technique 1917 viktor shklovsky art is thinking in images. The definition of estrangement first appeared in print in shklovskys essay art as device iskusstvo kak priem i n. Chapter iv russian formalism and the dialectics of. Russian formalism, which emerged around 1915 and flourished in the 1920s, was associated with the opojaz society for the study of poetic language and with the moscow linguistic society one of the leading figures of which was roman jakobson and prague. Before the twentieth century, most literary theorists tended to view the relation between text and meaning through the prism of history, psychology, symbolism, and literary biography. It is the first comprehensive book in the west on russian formalism. In reaction against the vagueness of previous literary theories, it attempted a scientific description of literature especially poetry as a special use of language with observable. Art as technique by victor shklovsky victor shklovosky, a founder of the opayaz group in russia, occupies a significant position in vi,tor formalism by introducing his literary concept of art as technique, thereby making the notion of defamiliarization as a central tenet of the russian formalism.
Russian formalism the johns hopkins guide to literary. Viktor shklovsky 18931984 was a russian literary theorist. The major focus lies on the term ostranenie that was firstly. He was a russian and soviet literary theorist, critic. Its central tenant is that the text of the writers work should be the focus of any inquiry or criticism regarding the work. In retrospect, formalism was only the first literary draft of a plentitude of modern russian and european isms. The russian formalist, victor shklovsky, reinterprets. This video is a part of video series where arpita explains frequently asked critical theories in ugc net set jrf exams. Russian formalism and the dialectics of poetic language. Russian formalism is a school of literary criticism formed in russia that became highly influential in the early decades of the 1900s. Russian formalism was a literary movement in russia that started in 1915, where literary scholars like victor shklovsky, andrei bely, and potebnya had multiple theoretical aesthetics to how literature can be. Formalism is a school of literary criticism and literary theory having mainly to do with structural purposes of a particular text. Russian formalism download ebook pdf, epub, tuebl, mobi. Some of its concepts are still in use today in literary criticism.
Nabokovs formalism is manifest in his invocation of structure, and his bergsonian essentialism in his insistence on the centrality of the individual creative consciousness. The definition of estrangement first appeared in print in shklovskys essay art as device iskusstvo kak priem. It had its heyday in the 1920s and it acquired its name from. Russian formalism, associated with russian critics viktor shklovsky and roman jakobson among others, aimed to ascertain the qualities of a literary work as a kind of scientific object, emphasizing the socalled literariness of the text. Engl 300 lecture 7 russian formalism open yale courses. Born in st petersburg, he attended st petersburg university, and then entered the army.
The lifeblood of literature humor and things related were no laughing matter to the russian formalists, but when it came to art, viktor shklovsky, boris. Viktor shklovsky 18931984 was one of the founders of the intellectual movement we today call russian formalism along with boris eichenbaum, roman jakobson, vladimir propp, yuri tynianov, others. His work was deeply informed by his long and eventful life. But, on the whole, shklovskys argument was more typical of formalism as a rationale for poetic experimenta. Literary criticism 336 eng iirussian formalism dr mohammed fahmy raiayh 2. Brecht and russian formalism in britain in the 1970s. Russian formalism article about russian formalism by the. Constructivism, born in the 1920s and 30s, concentrated formalisms. Russian literature from 1750 onwards and on the basis of this corpus. American new criticism, led by american critics such as john crowe ransom and cleanth brooks. He begins by distinguishing russian formalism from hermeneutics.
Petersburg later leningrad and led by viktor shklovsky. Formalism, also called russian formalism, russian russky formalism, innovative 20thcentury russian school of literary criticism. Get an answer for what is russian formalism, and what was its effect on literature. Even though several of erlichs conclusions are erroneous this is an important study. What is russian formalism, and what was its effect on. Viktor shklovskys 189 31984 c oncept of ostranenie, or estrangement,1 has become part of the basic vocabulary of literary theory and is familiar even to those who know little about its origins in russian formalism. Russian formalism was an influential school of literary criticism in russia from the 1910s to the 1930s. A brief history of formalism the formalist tradition developed in russian literary criticism in the late nineteenth century and beginning of the twentieth, especially in the work of the moscow linguistic circle. Victor shklovskys 1914 essay on futurist poetry, the ressurrection of the word marked the. Russian formalism is the european counterpart of the angloamerican new criticism. Several of his books have been translated into english, including zoo, or letters not about love, third factory, theory of prose, a sentimental journey, energy of delusion. Russian formalism challenged the traditional idea of critical literary analysis that art should conceal its literary devices. By then, however, they had produced essays that remain among the best defenses ever written for both literature and its theory.
Defining the text in formalist literary analysis victor shklovsky and victor chernov on effective words. They enjoyed that independence until stalin shut them down. A school of literary criticism that emerged in russia around 1915, 3. Russian verse latent plot analysis using the syuzhet package in r the verbal mass and the database. Important formalists included roman jakobson and viktor shklovsky. Formalists disagreed about what specific elements make a literary work good or bad. Russian literary theorist, critic, and writer of experimental. The formalist school of thought refused to naturalize text by attributing it to the state of mind of the author, but instead it focused its critical writing on.
The most wellknown and influential figure of russian formalism was roman jakobson. Pdf the presentation explicates the school of theory and analysis which emerged around 1915 in russia and aimed teo create the science of literature. It is excellent in many ways but it is a pity that erlich pretty much reduces viktor shklovskys importance in the movement. Petersburg through the group opoyaz, and in moscow via the moscow linguistic circle. I argue that nabokov manifests a range of bergsonian and formalist influences, the most salient of which is what may be termed the bergsonianshklovskyite notion of the. Broadly speaking, they wanted to understand artworks by breaking them down into their constituent parts, or devices priemwhat we. Russian formalism, one of the twentieth centurys most important movements in literary criticism, has received far less attention than most of its rivals. Viktor shklovsky russian formalist criticism in literature. It was not until after the russian revolution in 1917 that ther. Shklovsky brings out that there comes a point were perceptions become habitual thus becoming. Arts scrupulous or excessive adherence to outward form at the expense of inner reality or content 2. Viktor shklovsky 18931984 was both patriarch and enfant terrible of formalism, a literary and film scholar, a fiction writer and the protagonist of other peoples novels, instructor of an armored division and professor at the art history institute, revolutionary and counterrevolutionary. Russian formalism, new criticism, neoaristotelianism. Victor shklovosky, a founder of the opayaz group in russia, occupies a significant position in russian formalism by introducing his literary concept of art as.
Shklovskys art as technique almost exclusively in relation to literature. It is the study of a text without taking into account any outside influence. In the field of literary criticism, a formalist approach is one that. He founded opoyaz society for the study of poetic language in the year 1916 which planted the seeds of russian formalism viktor shklovsky opposed bolshevism, a farleft marxist faction. Eikhenbaums dependency on core ideas of marxist and darwinian philosophies of struggle and evolution is explained. Viktor shklovsky boris eichenbaum roman jakobson vladimir propp yuri. The initial perspective was aestheticist, ahistorical, reductive, and mechanistic and is associated with the early shklovskii. The major figures were victor shklovsky, roman jakobson, boris eikhenbaum, osip. Modern narrative theory begins with russian formalism in the 1920s, specifically with the work of roman jakobson, yury tynyanov, and viktor shklovsky. Opoyaz, an acronym for russian words meaning society for the study of poetic language, founded in 1916 at st. Formalism also known as new criticism a basic approach to reading and understanding literature armstrong atlantic state university formalist theory has dominated the american literary scene for most of the twentieth century, and it has retained its great influence in many academic quarters. Tynyanov combined his skills as a historical novelist with formalism to produce, with jakobson, theses on language 1928, read more.
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