RUSSIAN

FORMALISM
VICTOR SHKLOVSKYS ART AS
TECHNIQUE (1917)

SYMBOLIST IDEAS
Art is thinking in images. (idea
originated in part by Potebnya)
Without imagery there is no art, and in
particular no poetry. (Potebnya)
Poetry as well as prose, is first and
foremost a special way of thinking and
knowing. (Potebnya)

Kulikovskys Ideas
Poetry is a special way of thinking
thinking in images.

The purpose of imagery is to:

1. Reinforce an idea
2. To clarify the unknown by means of the
known

Shklovskys Ideas
Many people believed that thinking in
images was the chief characteristic of poetry.
i.e., history of imagistic art must consist of
a history of changes in images.
Images flow from country to country, nation
to nation, poet to poet without change.
Images belong to one, they are the Lords

 A work of art is created by a special technique.

The arrangement of images in a work of art is
the technique of art.
The technique of art is to make objects
unfamiliar, to make forms difficult and
increase the length of perception.
Art removes objects from the automatism of
perception

DEFAMILIARISATION
Art is a way of
experiencing the
artfulness of an
object : the object is
not important

Examples from the essay

Tolstoy makes the familiar seem strange
by not naming the familiar object.
Eg.: In War and Peace, he describes
battles as if it were something new.
In Shame the act of flogging is
defamiliarised.

 Erotic subjects can be presented

figuratively.
Riddles

Ring-a-Ring
o'Rosies
A pocketful of
posies
"Ashes, Ashes"
We all fall down


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