Formalism

Where did Formalism Begin?

Formalism, better known as Russian Formalism, is a major school of literary criticism that developed in Russia during the early twentieth century. First emerging in 1915, two years before the Bolshevik Revolution, it thrived for fifteen years until Soviet authorities halted the movement in 1930. Despite this abrupt ending in Russia, the formalist theory spread and continued to have a lasting impact on literary theory throughout the world. Formalism directly inspired the development of other literary theories, such as Structuralism and semiotics.

Formalism formed around the same time in both Moscow and St. Petersburg by groups of scholars who wanted to “challenge the dominant modes of literary interpretation”. There were two mains groups who shared ideas with each other: the Moscow Linguistic Circle, formed in 1915 by Roman Jakobson, A. A. Buslaev, Petr Bogatyrev, and Grigorii Vinokur, and OPOIAZ (Society for the Study of Poetic Language) which was formed in 1916 by Osip Brik, Sergei Bernstein, Lev Jakubinsky, and Viktor Shklovsky; its most prominent members included Boris Eikenbaum (who joined in 1918) and Boris Tomashevsky.

Russian Formalists actually resented being called “Formalists” because such a name tended to lead others to believe that they were only concerned with the form of literature, and not its content. Boris Eikhenbaum vauched for the identity of the movement as the “morphological method” instead of “formalist method” and the name of “specifier” instead of “Formalist”.

According to Emily Van Buskirk at Harvard University, Formalism was not “one single, unified theory”. Instead, it was a bunch of different scholar’s inputs and ideas. There are many different interpretations and ideas about formalism, but the unifying base to it all would be the interest in studying literature as “an independent discipline”, like a science. Formalists proposed that literature has a “unique set of facts to be analyzed”. They posed the question “what is literature?” and Roman Jakobson emphasized studying exactly what it is that makes a text “literary”. Formalists studied the uses and the changes of literary elements. They were more interested with the words and literary devices than what the words were actually saying. Literature functioned as a “defamiliarization of life” through its literary forms and conventions, such as metaphors.

Foundations of Formalism: 1) Literature needs clear rules and terminology to be differentiated from other studies. 2) The study of literature needs to be scientific and methodical at every stage with a clear hierarchy of steps. 3)Analysis should allow the development of rules and distinctions between types of literature. 4)The rules should enable a genre to develop with predictable steps.

Defamiliarization: "The purpose of art is to impart the sensation of things as they are perceived and not as they are known. 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." (Shklovsky, "Art as Technique", 12). In other words, art is about taking something familiar like a story and making it appear new or different to the reader by presenting the story's elements (such as the characters or plot) in a way that has not been done before.

Plot/Story Distinction: Focus on difference between what the story is and how the story is told.

Narrative Structure: Every story is comprised of characters that fall into one or more of 8 basic types, and every plot is a combination of several (but not necessarily all) of 31 basic functions.

8 character types:

• Hero or victim/seeker hero: Performs the quest and weds the Princess.
• Donor: Helps the Hero prepare or gives Hero magical gift.
• Helper: One who assists the Hero through either magical or mundane means.
• Princess: The damsel in distress who marries the hero in the end.
• Her Father: The Princess's father.
• Dispatcher: Helps the Hero realize the quest.
• False hero/anti-hero/usurper: Steals victory from Hero or tries to wed the Princess.

31 functions:

1. One of the members of a family absents himself from home.
2. An interdiction [that is, a prohibition] is addressed to the hero.
3. The interdiction is violated.
4. The villain makes an attempt at reconnaissance.
5. The villain receives information about his victim.
6. The villain attempts to deceive his victim in order to take possession of him or his belongings.
7. The victim submits to deception and thereby unwittingly helps his enemy.
8. The villain causes harm or injury to a member of a family/or, one member of a family either lacks something or desires to have something.
9. Misfortune or lack is made known; the hero is approached with a request or command; he is allowed to go or he is dispatched.
10. The seeker [that is, the hero in 'questor' mode] agrees to or decides upon counteraction.
11. The hero leaves home.
12. The hero is tested, interrogated, attacked, etc., which prepares the way for his receiving either a magical agent or helper.
13. The hero reacts to the actions of the future donor.
14. The hero acquires the use of a magical agent [that is, an object, and animal, etc.].
15. The hero is transferred, delivered, or led to the whereabouts of an object of search.
16. The hero and the villain join in direct combat.
17. The hero is branded.
18. The villain is defeated.
19. The initial misfortune or lack is liquidated.
20. The hero returns.
21. The hero is pursued.
22. Rescue of the hero from pursuit.
23. The hero, unrecognised, arrives home or in another country.
24. A false hero presents unfounded claims.
25. A difficult task is proposed to the hero.
26. The task is resolved.
27. The hero is recognised.
28. The false hero or villain is exposed.
29. The hero is given a new appearance.
30. The villain is punished.
31. The hero is married and ascends the throne.

Communication Functions:

• Referential: Contextual Information.
• Poetic: Autotelic (the purpose of the writing is the writing itself).
• Emotive: Self-expression.
• Conative: Vocative or imperative addressing of the receiver (orders or commands).
• Phatic: Expresses social emotions rather than facts.
• Metalingual: Checking code working.

Linguistics:

• Linguistic typology: Classifying language based on grammatical similarities.
• Markedness: The study of the naturalness or unnaturalness of grammar.
• Linguistic Universals: The general study of language.

Russian Formalists

Roman Jakobson

Victor Shklovsky

Yury Tynyanov

Vladimir Propp

Boris Tomashevsky

Boris Eichenbaum

Build a Fairy Tale

Try to determine how many of Propp's 31 functions can be found in some classic fairy tales.

Bibliography