Formalism

Formalism was an influential school of literary studies of the 1910s–1920s that focused on artistic form, 'literariness,' and the devices that distinguish literary language from practical language. The Formalists united in OPOYAZ (the Society for the Study of Poetic Language) and a parallel linguistic circle. The key figure was Viktor Shklovsky, who in a landmark 1917 essay defined 'defamiliarization' (ostranenie) as the essence of art. Yuri Tynianov developed the theory of literary evolution and the notion of the 'dominant'; Boris Eikhenbaum analyzed 'how a work is made'; Roman Jakobson formulated the doctrine of the poetic function of language. The Formalists distinguished fabula from plot and studied rhythm, sound, and motivation. Despite the school's suppression under ideological pressure, its ideas laid the foundation of structuralism, narratology, and all of modern literary theory.