Viktor Shklovsky

1. Viktor Shklovsky

Viktor Shklovsky

2.

Viktor Shklovsky (1893-1984) was a leading figure in the
Russian Formalist movement of the 1920s and had a
profound effect on twentieth-century Russian literature.
Several of his books have been translated into English,
including "Zoo, or Letters Not about Love, Third Factory,
Theory of Prose, A Sentimental Journey, Energy of
Delusion," and "Literature and Cinematography," and
"Bowstring.

3.

Russian literary theorist and critic who published Theory of
Prose in 1925. He is considered a Formalist, anticipating
structuralism and post-structuralism although being neither
of these. He wrote, “If the complex life of many people takes
place entirely on the level of the unconscious, then it’s as if
this life had never been.” To bring life to the level of
consciousness, Shklovsky believed that art is critically
important in that “art makes a stone feel ston

4.

5.

Theory of Prose not only anticipates structuralism and post-
structuralism, but poses questions about the nature of fiction that
are as provocative today as they were in the 1920s. Arguing that
writers structure their materials according to artistic principles
rather than from attempts to imitate "reality," Shklovsky uses
Cervantes, Tolstoi, Sterne, Dickens, Bely, and Rozanov to give us a
new way of thinking about fiction and, in his most impassioned
moments, about the world. Benjamin Sher's lucid translation will
allow Shklovsky'sTheory of Prose to fulfill its destiny as a major
theoretical work of the twentieth century

6.

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

7.

"A rambling, digressive stylist,
Shklovsky throws off brilliant
aper us on every page. . . .
Sixty-five years after it first
appeared, Theory of Prose
remains an exciting book: Like
an architect's blueprint, it lays
bare the joists and studs that
hold up the house of fiction."
(Michael Dirda, Washington Post Book
World 5-5-91)

8.

"This 1929 book by one of the founding fathers of
Russian formalism is one of the most important
works in the history of literary theory. . . .
Shklovsky's enormously influential work is brilliant,
provocative, and, by turn, elliptical and digressive.
It is also whimsical and sometimes chaotic."
(Choice)

9.

"[The] essays published in Theory
of Prose reveal why Shklovsky
might have become the most
important literary theorist of our
century, had history taken a
different course."
(Poetics Today)

10.

"Clearly there is a happy congruity between Shklovsky's
insights and the modern consensus. His observations on
various authors and techniques cause one to ponder. A
random paragraph causes sudden illumination. This is not a
manifesto but the incisive thoughts of a scholar in the quiet of
his study. Dalkey Archive Press is to be thanked for making it
available again." (ZYX 9-92)

11.

“Theory of prose” book
The theory - it is an attempt to clarify understanding of what
was for so long neglected. It is necessary, but I do not think it
is possible to allow the opening of a new facility.
We need disputes and discrepancies to overcome them,
because only through them the artist overcomes itself.
Analysis of the structure of the poem - And the words,
- And stresses,
- And rhyme This marks the movement of thought and feeling.

12. Types of poem rhyme:male and female

Male and female rhymes alternate in a certain prescribed
manner - live in the world. The order established by a poet ,
as if playing a scene between a man and a woman. The poem
itself - the inclusion in the narrative of the drama between a
man and a woman. These two camps are considered
permanent.
Rhymes , which is also a rhythm - a way to tie the strings .

13. Prose rhyme

So, one of the main elements of the story - it twists and turns
, which are closely linked with the elements of repetition.
The ups and downs - a change to the opposite of what is
happening and, moreover, as Aristotle says in the " Poetics "
in probability or necessity .
The ups and downs - it is a sudden change in attitude.
The life of the product - it does not change from one
manuscript to another, and the study of the fate with the help
of the picture has changed

14. Climax

So, we talk about the rapid change that seems unchanged.
The most persistent elements of the plot are decoupling of
short stories and novels .
Simultaneously, the junction at the end of things , works like
two fighting start - comforting and tragic .

15. Some more excerpts from the book

Реализм разных эпох различен, потому что различны
войны, орудия труда, храбрость, дружба, жалость. Мы
говорим о Диккенсе как о реалисте. Эпоха Диккенса
хочет само оправдываться в искусстве. Главный герой в
опасности, и у него есть друг – мальчик. Этот мальчик
умрет для некоторого правдоподобия.
В прозу иногда входит голос автора, вернее сказать,
автор иногда разгримировывается, потому что он
изможден тем, что он видит, понимает и скрывает.
Европейский роман не прошел бы и не дошел бы до
Толстого и Достоевского, если бы не было Стерна, если
бы не было жажды понять, почему дело человека и
результат дела так противоречат друг другу и почему
человек величествен даже в своих неудачах.

16.

Я правильно рассказал, как построен роман Стерна, и
приблизительно правильно рассказал, как построен путь Дон
Кихота, но не объяснил вам, откуда взялось такое построение,
через какие теснины проходит искусство, какие раны оно
исцеляет.
Был знаком в Казахстане – у стен гор, увенчанных снегом, – со
стариком Джамбулом. Он считал свои годы по лунному
исчислению, а не по солнечному. Лунный год, кажется, короче;
Джамбул хотел достичь круглого счета жизни – ста лет.
Он понимал по-русски; может быть, говорил на нашем языке.
На Востоке для спокойного обдумывания иногда скрывают
знания, чтобы иметь возможность прослушать одну и ту же
речь – сперва на чужом языке, потом на своем.
Старик сказал мне: искусство есть способ утешать, не
обманывая.
Как ослепленные самсоны, вращают обломками старых
эпических произведений и обновляют их акыны.
Искусство не способ утешать, и про утешение старик мне
сказал, чтобы утешить.