Readings in Russian Poetics: Formalist and Structuralist Views

TLDR

Formalism emerged in Russia before the 1920s as a code of criticism that moved away from theory toward an empirical study of literature as a specific system of facts, and its history has elaborated this theoretical foundation. The Formalists aimed to identify the defining features that make a literary work specifically literary by focusing on actual works and applying empirical investigation. This volume assembles key Formalist contributions—translated from Russian and Czech—including general theory, poetry and prose studies, and analyses of specific works, with contributions from scholars such as Jakobson, Baxtin, and Volosinov, plus editorial retrospectives. The collection illustrates how Formalist thinking evolved from its origins through major redefinitions and expansions, highlighting notable work that advanced literature as a systematic discipline.

Abstract

The Formal method is code of criticism, having its analogues in other than verbal arts, which arose in Russia shortly before the 1920s. Part of larger momentum which in general turned away from theory as means to understanding art, as for instance, did scholarship in the fine arts in Germany, the Formalists undertook to establish study on new, specific basis. They wished to limit themselves to the actual instance of art in front of them, and to bring to it only such materials as would an empirical investigator; theirs was, in the words of spokesman, a special scientific discipline concerned with literature as specific system of facts. In this system they wished to discover the defining features: what is it in work of literature that makes it specifically literary work?These are the issues raised by the Formalists. The subsequent history of their movement is an elaboration of this theoretical ground. Examples of Formalist thinking from the movement's origins through its major redefinitions and most significant expansions show much of the notable work that has been done in furthering the cause of studies as systematic discipline. This volume is collection of the most important contributions concerning the Formalist school, most of them translated for the first time from the Russian or the Czech. The editors have included articles on the general theory, on problems in the study of poetry, on selected problems in prose, and on specific works (including some by Dickens and O. Henry). The contributors include B. M. Ejxenbaum, Roman Jakobson, M. M. Baxtin, V. N. Volosinov, and others. In addition, the editors have each contributed retrospective and summarizing articles.