How Many Faces Does Russian Formalism Have?

• In Event: Russian Formalism: Travels across Space and Time

Abstract

This paper focuses on the research agenda advanced by the scholars who belonged to the groups associated with the Russian Formalists: OPOIAZ and the Moscow Linguistic Circle. These groups were not, in fact, unified or consolidated, but their members shared similar concerns: they conceived of (verbal) art as a type of human activity governed by its own intrinsic laws rather than predetermined by ideological, social or psychological conditions. How many faces does Russian Formalism have—three, four, five? The answer should incorporate the output of all the branches of both associations, which together are viewed as a heterogeneous community. Formalism is understood here neither as a doctrine nor a set of unsystematic theoretical pronouncements on literature, but as a common theoretical field, created by the intellectual efforts of the members of this community both individually and collectively. Their theoretical quest was driven by the same agenda or agendas, although they tended to give different answers to the questions they were all interested in. Therefore, Formalism is interpreted here more broadly than usual, to include not only the “hardcore” central figures, but also some of those scholars who were traditionally considered “Formalist fellow travelers” or “paraformalists,” and even their antagonists.

Author

• Igor Pilshchikov, UCLA