Redirecting attention from the author to the foregrounding of language itself, the supporters of Russian Formalism, which began to blossom at the beginning of the 20th century, stressed their concern with the literariness of literature and found a different approach to the ontogeny of literary texts. One of the central tenets of their theory was the assumption that form and content can not be separated in the literary work of art. Regarding previous movements in literary theory, this stance was rather provoking and the growing significance of the theory in the course of time led, inter alia, to a ban on the movement by the Soviet Regime in the 1930’s.
Table of Contents
1 Introduction
2.1 The emergence of the Russian Formalist movement
2.2 The connection of form and content
2.3 Application to a short story by F. Kafka
3 Conclusion
Research Objectives and Key Topics
This paper examines the core principles of Russian Formalism, specifically focusing on the inextricable relationship between form and content in literary works, and demonstrates these concepts through the analysis of a short story by Franz Kafka.
- The historical emergence and theoretical development of the Russian Formalist movement.
- The transition from traditional content-based analysis to an emphasis on verbal structures.
- Key concepts such as defamiliarization (making strange), automatization, and foregrounding.
- The rejection of sterile biographism in favor of analyzing literary devices.
- Practical application of Formalist terminology to Kafka’s "Der plötzliche Spaziergang".
Excerpt from the Book
2.2 The connection of form and content
Unlike the Symbolists, the Formalists’ aim was not making the unfamiliar familiar, but making strange the familiar, what became known as defamiliarisation. Texts with this formal property make a shift away from conventions and slow down the reader’s response. Therefore, the Formalists attacked the Symbolists’ notion that literary always deals with imagery and that a word represents an object in itself rather than simply pointing to something different. Instead, they regarded literature as verbal structure and claimed that texts need not be profound to be literature but that anything can be literary if it is made strange by language devices such as defamiliarisation.
As familiar language was considered a circular movement which had to be broken through, defamiliarisation of language was supposed to lead to a new perception of the world and to change the previous representation of world in prior literature, which had become so conventional that the reader’s response was automatised. “Art is in this context a way of restoring conscious experience, of breaking through deadening and mechanical habits of conduct (automatization)” This automatisation regarding both the perception of world and of literature could only be interrupted by the technique of making strange. “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. Art is a way of experiencing the artfulness of an object; the object is not important”, as Shklovsky put it.
Summary of Chapters
1 Introduction: This chapter introduces Russian Formalism as a movement that shifted focus from the author's biography to the literariness of the text itself, establishing the central tenet that form and content are inseparable.
2.1 The emergence of the Russian Formalist movement: This section traces the historical roots of the movement, highlighting its emergence in reaction to Symbolism and Futurism and the influence of the Moscow Linguist Circle and Opoyaz.
2.2 The connection of form and content: This chapter explains the core concepts of defamiliarisation and automatization, arguing that literature functions by making familiar language strange to restore conscious perception.
2.3 Application to a short story by F. Kafka: This section applies Formalist theories to Kafka's "Der plötzliche Spaziergang," demonstrating how the story's unusual structure and syntax function as literary devices to engage the reader.
3 Conclusion: This chapter summarizes the legacy of Russian Formalism, affirming that despite criticisms regarding its practical application, it successfully established a dynamic and vital relationship between material and literary devices.
Keywords
Russian Formalism, defamiliarisation, automatization, literary theory, form and content, Moscow Linguist Circle, Opoyaz, literariness, foregrounding, verbal structure, Franz Kafka, poetics, literary device, material.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the primary focus of this research paper?
The paper explores the theoretical foundations of Russian Formalism, specifically examining how the movement redefined the relationship between form and content in literature.
What are the central themes discussed in the text?
Key themes include the concept of 'literariness', the historical critique of earlier movements like Symbolism, and the shift toward analyzing language and structural devices rather than external biographical details.
What is the main research question or objective?
The objective is to analyze how Russian Formalists moved away from traditional literary approaches to establish a framework where form and content are viewed as dynamically connected.
Which scientific or analytical methods are used?
The authors employ a literary-theoretical analysis, utilizing historical documentation of the movement and applying specific Formalist terminology to close-read a primary literary text.
What topics are covered in the main body?
The main body covers the origins of the Formalist movement, the definitions of key concepts like defamiliarisation, and a practical case study using a short story by Franz Kafka.
What are the primary keywords that characterize this work?
The work is characterized by terms such as Russian Formalism, defamiliarisation, automatization, foregrounding, and literary device.
How does the author define the term 'defamiliarisation'?
Defamiliarisation is defined as the technique of making the familiar seem strange, thereby slowing down the reader's perception and restoring a conscious experience of the text.
How is Kafka's 'Der plötzliche Spaziergang' used as an example?
It serves as a practical application of the 'foregrounding' concept, where the specific, unusual syntactic structure of the story forces the reader to pay attention to the language itself rather than just the plot.
- Quote paper
- Anneke Richter (Author), Victoria Lodge (Author), 2003, The connection of form and content in the literary work of art in Russian Formalism, Munich, GRIN Verlag, https://www.grin.com/document/51872
