Literary Theory Introduction to Formalism, Viktor Shklovsky & Boris Eichenbaum
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Introduction to Formalism
Formalism is a branch of literary theory and criticism which deals with the structures of text. It means that external agents outside of the text are not taken into consideration. All the things about culture, politics, and the author’s intent or societal influences are excluded from formalism.
The focus in formalism is only on the text and the contents within the text such as grammar, syntax, signs, literary tropes, etc. Formalism also brings attention to structural tendencies within a text or across texts such as genre and categories. Formalism is based on an analysis of a text rather than a discussion on issues more distant to the text.
So Formalism is based on the technical purity of a text. Formalism is divided into two branches Russian Formalism and New Criticism. Formalism also argued that a text is an autonomous entity liberated from the intention of the author.
A text according to Formalism is a thing on its own without the need of external agents. As the name suggests, Formalism is a scientific, technical mode of understanding texts which expects a greater degree of mental intelligence instead of emotional intelligence from the readers.
Russian Formalism was a school of literary criticism in Russia from 1910 to 1930. Some prominent scholars of Russian Formalism were Viktor Shklovsky, Yuri Tynianov, Vladimir Propp, Boris Eichenbaum, Roman Jakobson, Boris Tomashevsky and Grigory Gukovsky. Russian Formalism brought the idea of scientific analysis of poetry. Russian Formalism alludes to the work of the Society for the Study of Poetic Language (OPOYAZ), 1916 in St. Petersburg by Boris Eichenbaum, Viktor Shklovsky and Yury Tynyanov.
It also refers to the Moscow Linguistic Circle founded in 1914 by Roman Jakobson. Principles of Russian Formalism are as follows – Analysis of literature should be factual. Linguistics will also be an aspect of Russian Formalism. Literature is independent of external sources surrounding the texts.
New Criticism – New Criticism is an American Literary theory in the 20th century. Its philosophy was taken from John Crowe Ransom’s The New Criticism, 1941. New Criticism talked about the closed-reading approach.
The closed-reading approach was a method developed by I.A. Richards in which only words on-page were analyzed very closely in a text. It argued that a text should be very closely read and analyzed without referring to external materials and issues such as cultural, political, and economic and others. New Criticism did not deal with cultural, political or social issues around a text. It dealt only with the textual world.
Viktor Shklovsky
Viktor Shklovsky (1893-1984) was a Russian literary theorist. He belonged to the class of Russian Formalism. He was also associated with the Russian army during the 1st world war. 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 far-left Marxist faction. As an outcome of his dissent against Bolshevism, he went into hiding but was pardoned in 1919. He also took part in the Russian civil war.
Viktor Shklovsky coined the term “Defamiliarization” in the essay, “Art as Device” which was part of the Theory of Prose (1925). Defamiliarization is also known as estrangement.
Defamiliarization is the act of making common entities unfamiliar to the reader. It argues that poetic language is different from practical language. The aim of practical language is to make things easily comprehensible and convey things based on factual assertion.
Practical Language does not follow the method of defamiliarization. The idea of Defamiliarization is aligned with poetic language instead of practical language. It is a poetic language that conveys sense through implication rather than through direct expressions.
Poetic language or even subjective language is not totally based on factual assertion and the aim is to make things more difficult to understand. Thus poetic language follows the method of defamiliarization. It is based upon the idea that defamiliarization is aesthetic in nature and therefore the process of creating sense is more important than the outcome.
The rules of ordinary speech don’t apply in the act of defamiliarization. It is an idea of evoking a message which is based upon perceptibility rather than saying something through factual assertion. In other words, poetic language is an endeavor that is created for the sake of itself.
Defamiliarization argues that subjective language does not really have a concrete function of communicating facts. It argues that artistic language serves an artistic function rather than a scientific function.
Thus artistic form based upon aesthetic choice rather than practical purpose. And the aesthetic choice of defamiliarization argues that the act of making sense of language should be a difficult process for the reader.
The reader’s act of making sense of artistic form within language should be based on the poetic sensibility of the reader instead of common sense. The idea of defamiliarization breaks the rules of ordinary speech or writing by making the conveying messages indirectly through implicit sense.
Viktor Shklovsky was also a film-theorist. He was a friend of filmmaker, Sergei Eisenstein. Notable works of Viktor Shklovsky include Zoo or Letters Not About Love (1923), Literature and Cinematography (1923) Third Factory (1926) and Theory of Prose (1925).
Boris Eichenbaum
Boris Eichenbaum (1886-1959) was a Russian theorist. He represents Russian Formalism. He was born in Voronezh, Russia. He studied biology, violin, and piano at school. He opted for philology in the year 1909. Philology is a branch of knowledge that deals with the structure and history of languages. Boris Eichenbaum was part of OPOJAZ which was founded in 1916.
Boris Eichenbaum was involved with the social movement, “rootless cosmopolitanism”. The term, “rootless cosmopolitanism” was coined by Vissarion Belinsky. It was a pejorative referred to Jewish intellectuals and dissenters and to their lack of patriotism and lack of total allegiance with the Russian state.
The idea of “rootless cosmopolitanism” is a representation of the artistic struggle for freedom of expression and dissent. The rootlessness of existence is also an expression of freedom where an individual defies traditional boundaries of family, society, religion, and nation.
So the idea of rootlessness is a flight of freedom against the shackles of orthodoxy. It is a form of liberalism. The idea also challenges fixed notions of nationalism. Rootless cosmopolitanism is a metaphor for a global mindset rather than a nationalistic mindset.
Boris Eikhenbaum’s involvement with the idea of “rootless cosmopolitanism” was an intellectual pursuit of freedom against the authoritarianism of the nation. It was an idea that was liberating because the intellectual pursuit of knowledge and experience can only happen in a space that is not bound by too many rules.
For instance – The Hippie Movement within America was a movement that also advocated absolute freedom against all forms of control. The Beat Generation within America was an artistic movement that also advocated for complete artistic freedom. Thus such artistic movements also defy censorship in all forms.
Rootless cosmopolitanism is an extension of the idea of intellectual liberty. It is also an extension of the idea of dissent which is a facet of freedom. It is also a subversion of the ways in which any totalitarian regime tries to control citizens. And it is for this reason that a lot of nations have always been hostile to ideas of artistic freedoms which defy the policies of authoritarian regimes.
The idea of rootless cosmopolitanism also brings a chance to reinvestigate and question the sanctity of nationalism. This kind of challenge of populist ideas of nationalism, morality is a gateway towards intellectual and cultural freedom.
Notable works of Boris Eichenbaum include “Theory of the Formal Method”, Literary Mores, Young Tolstoy, Anna Akhmatova: An attempt at analysis.
