Russian Formalism is a genre of literary criticism that emerged in Russia from 1914 to 1930.
Two branches:
1. Moscow Linguistics Group, represented by Roman Jacobson;
2. Petersburg Group (Poetic Language Research Society, 1916), represented by Shkrovsky, Zhirmonsky and Eichenbaum.
Theoretical origins:
1. Russian formalism was deeply influenced by the Geneva School of Philology, Husserl’s phenomenology, symbolism, etc.
2. Especially influenced by Saussure’s structural theory of analogy between various factors in linguistics.
Basic propositions:
1. Literary works are "reality outside consciousness" and have nothing to do with the subjective consciousness of the author and the reader.
2. The purpose of literary creation is to transform automatic perception into aesthetic perception through "defamiliarization".
3. The task of literary criticism is to study the form and structure of a work.
4. The method of literary criticism is the method of modern linguistics.
Overall evaluation of Russian formalism:
1. The greatest contribution lies in treating literature as a special field and trying to explain the internal structure and special laws of literature. The theories, concepts and principles it proposed have greatly enriched Western literary theory.
2. It has a profound influence, and literary theory schools such as the Prague School, structuralism, and semiotics are all deeply influenced by it.
3. Over exaggerating the role of art forms does not exceed the scope of aestheticism in the 19th century.
4. Theoretical claims and critical practice are not completely consistent and have to involve the content of the work.