What is formalism?

FORMALISM

Formalism is an objective method of analysing a text focusing on the work itself. It examines the inherent poetic devices used in a text. By using an artistically enhanced language, the writer can overcome the common and expected pattern of using a language. It renegotiate the expected patterns through various formal devices and sticks on to the innovative and decorative use of language.

         Form is rather more important than the content. Form is decorative wrapping of the content. In formalism the emphasis lies on the presentation of the literary text, how it looks matters rather than what it actually is. In order to intensify the effect of language writers constitute a complete deviation from ordinary language.

Russian formalism mainly studies and evaluates the nature of poetic language. Often associated with the works of Roman Jacobson, Vicktor Shklovsky, Boris Eikhenbaum and Juri Tynyanou. They believe literature in general and poetry in particular have a special function of language. The purpose of Formalistic criticism is to discover some underlying features of language such as Literariness , Defamiliarization  and Forgrounding.

 

DEFAMILIARIZATION:

The term ' Defamiliarization ' was coined by Vicktor Shklovsky in his critical essay " Art as a technique " which means the ability to make something strange and unfamiliar.

We have over exposes to familiar things, so the purpose of literature is make it new or make something strange that is over familiar to you 

 

LITERARINESS:

The term Literariness was coined by Roman Jacobson. It is concerned with the quality needed to a literary language in order to distinguish literature from other kinds of communication. It marks a complete departure from ordinary language. Literariness is an evaluated or special use of everyday language or an artistically enhanced language. He asserts the fact that there is a fundamental opposition between literary language and the language we use in our day today communication. According to Roman Jacobson: " Literature is an organized violence committed upon ordinary language "

 

FOREGROUNDING:

Poetic language foregrounds it's own use, in the sense poetic language doesn't seek to convey information instead it draws attention to its own utterances to what and how it is saying. Jan Mukařovský, therefore declared that the function of poetic language consists of the maximum foregrounding of the utterances. 

Every literary text is make use of language in such a way that everyday objects could be made look different, extraordinary the world in such a way that ordinary things appear different. This is what captures reader's attention. This process is what Victor Shklovsky termed as Defamiliarization.

 

 

FABULA AND SJUZET/ SYUZHET :

 

FABULA and Sjuzet/ Syuzhet are the significant terms in Russian formalism, associated to narratology, that describes narrative construction. Sjuzet means plot which means the narrative method. According to Vicktor Shklovsky Sjuzet is the defamiliarized form of Febula (story).

Febula is the chronological order of events contained in the story. These terms were first used in the sense by Vladimir Propp and Vicktor Shklovsky.

A story can be made unfamiliar by it's reformation in to plot with stunning twists, omissions, digression and postponement of important information. The Fabula is the raw material of the story and Sjuzet is the way a story is organized.