Defamiliarization (Ostranenie)

Defamiliarization (ostranenie, 'making strange') is a key concept of Formalism, introduced by Viktor Shklovsky in his programmatic 1917 essay. Defamiliarization is an artistic device that removes an object from the sphere of automatic, habitual perception and presents it as if for the first time — unusual, 'foreign' — slowing down and complicating perception. According to Shklovsky, 'the purpose of art is to impart the sensation of things as they are perceived and not as they are known'; the automatism of everyday life 'devours' things, and art restores their palpability. Examples are the perspective of the horse-narrator in Leo Tolstoy or the description of the familiar through the prism of a 'naive' observer. Defamiliarization is realized through unusual metaphors, a change of point of view, and the frustration of expectations. The concept became foundational for the theory of 'literariness' and influenced Brecht's 'alienation effect' (Verfremdung) in theater.