This article is within the scope of wikiproject philosophy, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of content related to philosophy on wikipedia. Russian formalism emerged in the opening decades of the twentieth century as a reaction to the mystification of literature found in the influential paneuropean arts movement of symbolism. Put simply, russian formalism has laid a strong foundation upon which. According to the russian formalists who coined the term, it is the central concept of art and poetry.
A school of literary criticism that emerged in russia around 1915, 3. Russian formalist, victor shklovsky, on defamiliarization as. He begins by distinguishing russian formalism from hermeneutics. Defamiliarization is the process of making the familiar appear strange or of putting the old in a new light.
According to shklovsky the technique is meant to challenge the readers or viewers expectations and jar their sensibilities. Defamiliarization is a literary technique in which the process of writing is itself focused on more than any particular plotline. Two schools of formalist literary criticism developed, russian formalism, and soon after angloamerican new criticism. 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. The russian formalists concept of defamiliarization, proposed by viktor. Formalism russian a brief but influential 20thcentury critical method that originated in st. The russian formalists concept of defamiliarization, proposed by viktor shklovsky in his art as technique, refers to the literary device whereby language is used in such a way that ordinary and familiar objects are made to look different.
Russian formalists saw poetry as something that can be mechanically taken in order to reveal devices that make it up. The opojaz group, the society for the study of poetic language pomorska. A read is counted each time someone views a publication summary such as the title, abstract, and list of authors, clicks on a figure, or views or downloads the fulltext. When marxism rejected the formalists and certain ones fled to exile, the prague school of formalism added concepts such as defamiliarization, the way in which devices are applied to words or. 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. Examining formalism in light of more recent developments in literary theory, peter steiner here offers the most comprehensive critique of formalism to date.
Russian formalism russian formalism advocated a scientific method for studying poetic language. Russian formalism second edition 2005 russian formalism is the name for a group of literary scholars and linguists who between 1916 and 1929, while most were still in their twenties, developed a series of innovative theoretical concepts, claims, models, and methodological norms concerning various aspects of the literary system and its study. Examining formalism in light of more recent developments in literary theory, peter steiner here offers the. Intro to literary and cultural theory fall 2018 mw russian formalism duration.
Russian formalism influenced the literary theory of structuralism. He argued that defamiliarization is, more or less, the point of all art. Flash fiction, defamiliarization and cultural criticism. Russian formalism is the european counterpart of the angloamerican new criticism. If you would like to support the project, please visit the project page, where you can get more details on how you can help, and where you can join the general discussion about philosophy content on wikipedia. Apr 06, 2012 russian formalism is the european counterpart of the angloamerican new criticism. Formalism is a school of literary criticism that originated in the former soviet union during the first world war. Art makes language strange, as well as the world that the language presents. Western theory of russian formalism deal with the language of literature. What are the major differences between russian formalism and. Apr 27, 2020 it is left to the writers to find new approaches to defamiliarization.
According to shklovsky the technique is meant to challenge the readers. Formalism was the dominant mode of academic literary study in the us at least from the end of the second world war through the 1970s, especially as embodied in rene wellek and austin warren s theory of literature 1948, 1955. Viktor shklovsky boris eichenbaum roman jakobson vladimir propp yuri. According to shklovsky, the technique of art is to make objects unfamiliar, to make forms difficult, to increase the difficulty and length of perception because the process of perception is an aesthetic end in itself and must be. Jan 16, 2017 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.
Defamiliarization is an old concept, stemming from russian formalism which can be placed in the period between 1915 and 1930 approximately. 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. In the theory of the formal method 1927, boris eichenbaum defends russian formalism against various attacks. Austin hays rated it it was amazing jan 12, katy rated it really liked it apr 27, history of defamiliarization note.
Russian formalism, one of the twentieth centurys most important movements in literary criticism, has received far less attention than most of its rivals. Introduction to the russian formalist tradition 09. Literary criticism new criticism and russian formalism. Russian formalism the johns hopkins guide to literary. 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 russian formalists emerged from the russian revolution with ideas about the independence of literature. Defamiliarization krishanu adhikari jrf research scholar department of english, the english and foreign languages university, shillong meghalaya, pin 793022 abstract the term, defamiliarization, coined by one of the earliest practitioners of russian formalism, namely.
The russian michail bakhtin is a highly original thinker who moves between the boundaries of russian formalism and contemporary critical theory. Film set our sense of vision free, restoring it to us with. Two modern examples of the literary strategy of defamiliarization are james joyces stream of consciousness writing, and the use of magical realism by gabriel garcia marquez in his novels. The word defamiliarization was coined by the early 20thcentury russian literary critic viktor shklovsky in his essay art as technique. Mar 17, 2016 home literary criticism defamiliarization. The formalists believed that poetry was made up of several different devices purposely placed to increase length of perception. Defamiliarization and foregrounding are such important formalist principles that they lead directly into formalist definitions of literature itself. Russian formalism, french formalism in very easy and simple.
They enjoyed that independence until stalin shut them down. Pdf russian formalism and its legacy john j h lee academia. According to russian formalism defamiliarization is the basic function of all devices 1987. As a russian formalist, many of shklovskys examples use russian authors and. It is left to the writers to find new approaches to defamiliarization. By then, however, they had produced essays that remain among the best defenses ever written for both literature and its theory. An able champion, he describes formalisms evolution, notes its major figures and works, clears away decayed axioms, and rescues literature from primitive historicism and other dangers. This is a picture of viktor shklovsky, one of the main voices behind a way of thinking about literature that today is known as russian formalism. Russian formalists use defamiliarization for obliqueness. Russian formalism motivation key termsconcepts motivation defamiliarization vladimir propp defamiliarization victory shklovsky saw laurence sternes novel tristram shandy as being without any kind of motivation. Russian formalism, marxism, poetics, socialist realism, science, art.
What is russian formalism, and what was its effect on. Victor shklovsky, the russian formalist, coined and popularized the notion of defamiliarization. Engl 300 lecture 7 russian formalism open yale courses. Roman jakobson, mentioned earlier as, arguably, the most important figure of russian formalism, took the lead amongst the formalist scholars in defining the object of their analysis. Russian formalism was an influential school of literary criticism in russia from the 1910s to the 1930s. Important formalists included roman jakobson and viktor shklovsky. Petersburg through the group opoyaz, and in moscow via the moscow linguistic circle. This technique involves exploring the differences between.
An important question to consider is why a theory in poetics should have stirred the heated debate, about questions of ideology and art, in the first place. Jun 11, 2014 this is a picture of viktor shklovsky, one of the main voices behind a way of thinking about literature that today is known as russian formalism. Defamiliarization from wikipedia, the free encyclopedia defamiliarization or. Russian formalism, sample of essays free samples and. It had its heyday in the 1920s and it acquired its name from its emphasis on form rather than on content. Pdf the presentation explicates the school of theory and analysis which emerged around 1915 in russia and. He is one of the major figures associated with russian formalism. Pdf defamiliarization wikipedia soumya kanti mitra. It is a school of literary criticism that originated in the former russia around 1915. Russian formalism was probably the first school in literary theory that looked at poetry and literature in general as true linguistic phenomena. The definition of estrangement first appeared in print in shklovskys essay art as device iskusstvo kak priem i n 1916. Sep 03, 2019 austin hays rated it it was amazing jan 12, katy rated it really liked it apr 27, history of defamiliarization note. Verfremdung in german, which refers to the intentional deviation from practical, everyday language in poetry and literature.
The origins of russian formalism date back before the russian. Russian formalism challenged the traditional idea of critical literary analysis that art should conceal its literary devices. Formalism is a literary theory that was spearheaded by two main bodies russian formalists and new critics which focused on understanding the literary text through the text itself. It had its heyday in the 1920s and it acquired its name from. Formalist literary theory essay sample free college essay. Sterne lays bare the structure of the novel, which increases.
Start your 48hour free trial to unlock this answer and thousands more. Russian formalist, victor shklovsky, on defamiliarization as one of the essential roles of art and literature 1917 posted on february 3, 2009 by santi tafarella victor shklovsky coined the term defamiliarization to describe the role that art and literature can play in turning us around in the world so that we see things with fresh eyes. Art as technique 1917 viktor shklovsky art is thinking in images. Defamiliarization by nasrullah mambrol on march 17, 2016 4. The russian formalists tried to explain how aesthetic effects were produced by literary devices, and how literary writing differed from nonliterary. Russian formalism synonyms, russian formalism pronunciation, russian formalism translation, english dictionary definition of russian. A case for the literary carnivalesque formalism, also called russian formalism. Russian formalism was a school of literary criticism in russia from the 1910s to the 1930s. Sep 16, 2019 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. Russian formalism article about russian formalism by the. Jan 24, 20 formalism is a literary theory that was spearheaded by two main bodies russian formalists and new critics which focused on understanding the literary text through the text itself. Defamiliarization in russian literature to illustrate what he means by defamiliarization, shklovsky uses examples from tolstoy, whom he cites as using the technique throughout his works.
Russian formalism and defamiliarization on world literature. By nasrullah mambrol on march 17, 2016 4 the russian formalists concept of defamiliarization, proposed by viktor shklovsky in his art as technique, refers to the literary device whereby language is used in such a way that ordinary and familiar objects are made to look different. Literature, as they saw it, was an autonomous product, and should be studied by appropriate methods, preferably scientific. Viktor shklovsky boris eichenbaum roman jakobson vladimir propp yuri tynianov understand artworks. Russian formalism definition of russian formalism by the.
Its principles posed a great shift from the traditional approaches during its time, and so it sparked a movement in the field of literary studies that would. The voluntary and the involuntary free lectures on literary criticism. The narrator of kholstomer, for example, is a horse, and it is the horses point of view rather than a persons that makes the content of the. Shklovsky brings out that there comes a point were perceptions become habitual thus becoming. Brecht and russian formalism in britain in the 1970s. Defamiliarization comprises both the slowing down and the increased difficulty impeding of the process of reading and comprehending and an awareness of the literary procedures devices. Defamiliarization the purpose of art is to impart the sensation of things as they are perceived and not as they are known. One of its representatives, viktor shklovsky coined the term defamiliarization ostranenie in russian. The technique of art is to make objects unfamiliar, to make forms difficult, to increase the difficulty and length of perception because the process of perception is an aesthetic end in itself and must be prolonged. In 1929 1930, it was censured by stalin and its centre of activity moved to prague. 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 novels literariness which checks naturalization. Eikhenbaums dependency on core ideas of marxist and darwinian philosophies of struggle and evolution is explained. Sep 01, 2009 introduction to the russian formalist tradition 09.
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