Russian Formalism

1. Russian Formalism Stylistics 551 Lecture # 7 Neelum Almas

2. Key Concepts in Formalism • Literariness Poetic language vs everyday language. The language of literature is distinguishable form the language of everyday use due to its ‘literariness’. Formalists position themselves in an Aristotalian tradition in which “poetic language must appear strange and wonderful”(Shklovsky “Art as technique“ 22)

3. Key Concepts in Formalism 2. Defamiliarization • Making Strange. Art defamiliarizes things that have become habitual or automatic. • “the technique of art is to make objects unfamiliar to make forms difficult” (Shklovsky, “Art as Technique” 12)

4. Key Concepts in Formalism 3. Foregrounding Giving prominence to something in literary works through the artful use of language. It brings certain element of text to the forefront and readers focus their attention on the foregrounded features. e.g.. Donne’s conceit of a compass in “A Valediction Forbidding Mourning”

5. Key Concepts in Formalism Automatization: Inevitable process by which an artistic object becomes habitual, banal and loses its power as artistic object.

6. Formalism & the study of fictionFabula (story), Siuzhet (plot) • Formalists have also made influential contributions to the theory of prose fiction. With respect to this genre, the central formalist distinction is that between the "story" (the simple enumeration of a chronological sequence of events) and a plot. An author is said to transform the raw material of a story into a literary plot by the use of a variety of devices that violate sequence and deform and defamiliarize the story elements; the effect is to foreground the narrative medium and devices themselves, and in this way to disrupt what had been our standard responses to the subject matter.

7. Fabula (story) • Fabula designates the raw material which will be processed to become a narrative. • Story is the chronological series of events which will be recounted in the order in which they took place.

8. Siuzhet (Plot) • The fabula will be organized into siuzhet to become narrative. Siuzhet organizes fabula using delays, digressions, chronological disruptions etc. Siuzhet is the artistic construct a purely literary concept whereas fabula is the chronological string of events.

9. Impact of Formalism on Contemporary Criticism • Through the critique of form Russian Formalism and America New Criticism extended certain formalist assumptions and led to the development of further schools of criticism such as Structuralism, Post-structuralism, Deconstruction. • Leading Figures: Roald Barthes, Julia Kristiva, Fredric Jameson.

10. Merits of Formalism 1. A Scientific approach to literature: by attempting to define clearly its subject matter, Russian Formalism granted the study of literature the status of a science. 2. A reevaluation of literary works: placed the study of the actual work of literature at eh center of scholarship and relegated biographical, psychological, and sociological references to its periphery.

11. 3. An awareness of the problematic dichotomy of “content” and “form”: the form or the style of writing is given significance over its content or message. Defined the dynamic relationship between “material” and “device” Form Content Device Material Style Message

12. 4. A focus on sound patterns: a breakthrough as examination of technical and linguistic features of literary work is concerned. 5. A shift of attention into reading process:Formalism demystifies the figure of author. Consider him/her secondary to the work of literature. This results in emergence of the reader as participant in the work.

13. Demerits of the Approach • Ignores author’s intention: although some works of literature are to a great extent affected by the author’s personal bent of mind. Background information about the author’s life can give insight into the work. • separate text form the time and place: studying literary works in isolation form the time in which it was produced, historical, political, economic etc. influences on the work.

14. 3.Over stressing the objectivity: formalists tend to be objective in their approach towards the analysis of literary works. Although it is difficult to ignore the extrinsic factors like the author’s state of mind, biographical information, his social, political, psychological, philosophical leanings. The history and the time in which the work is produced also affect the interpretation of the work.