{"product_id":"russian-formalist-criticism","title":"Russian Formalist Criticism","description":"\u003cdiv\u003eThe Russian formalists emerged from the Russian Revolution with ideas about the independence of literature. They enjoyed that independence until Stalin shut them down. By then, however, they had produced essays that remain among the best defenses ever written for both literature and its theory. \u003c\/div\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cdiv\u003eIncluded here are four essays representing key points in the formalists’ short history. Victor Shklovsky’s pioneering “Art as Technique” (1917) defines the literary as a way to make us see familiar things as if for the first time. His 1921 essay on \u003ci\u003eTristram Shandy\u003c\/i\u003e makes that eccentric novel the centerpiece for a theory of narrative. A section from Boris Tomashevsky’s “Thematics” (1925) inventories the elements of stories. In “The Theory of the ‘Formal Method’” (1927), Boris Eichenbaum defends Russian Formalism against various attacks. An able champion, he describes Formalism’s evolution, notes its major figures and works, clears away decayed axioms, and rescues literature from “primitive historicism” and other dangers. \u003c\/div\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cdiv\u003eThese essays set a course for literary studies that led to Prague structuralism, French semiotics, and postmodern poetics. \u003ci\u003eRussian Formalist Criticism\u003c\/i\u003e has been honored as a \u003ci\u003eChoice\u003c\/i\u003e Outstanding Academic Book of the Year by the American Library Association. \u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"MediaPlace","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57318724403582,"sku":"NW9780803239982","price":20.84,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0817\/1379\/1261\/files\/9780803239982.jpg?v=1778725686","url":"https:\/\/mediaplace.com\/products\/russian-formalist-criticism","provider":"MediaPlace","version":"1.0","type":"link"}