Viktor Shklovsky facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Viktor Shklovsky
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| Born |
Viktor Borisovich Shklovsky
24 January [O.S. 12 January] 1893 |
| Died | 6 December 1984 (aged 91) |
| Alma mater | Saint Petersburg Imperial University |
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Notable work
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Воскрешение слова (1914) Art as Device (1917) Zoo, or Letters Not About Love (1923) Theory of Prose (1925) |
| School | Russian Formalism |
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Main interests
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Literary theory Literary criticism |
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Notable ideas
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Ostranenie (1917) |
Viktor Borisovich Shklovsky (Russian: Ви́ктор Бори́сович Шкло́вский, IPA: [ˈʂklofskʲɪj]; 24 January 1893 – 6 December 1984) was an important Russian and Soviet writer and thinker. He worked as a literary theorist, a person who studies how literature works. He was also a critic, a writer, and someone who wrote short, strong opinion pieces called pamphlets. Shklovsky is known as one of the main people connected with a way of studying literature called Russian Formalism.
His book Theory of Prose, published in 1925, is very famous. Many experts still praise Shklovsky. They call him "one of the most important literary and cultural thinkers of the twentieth century."
Contents
Viktor Shklovsky's Early Life
Shklovsky was born in St. Petersburg, Russia. His father was a mathematician from a Lithuanian Jewish background. His mother had German-Russian roots. Viktor went to St. Petersburg University to study.
Shklovsky During World War I
During the First World War, Shklovsky joined the Russian Army. He became a driving trainer for a military vehicle unit in St. Petersburg. In 1916, he started a group called OPOYAZ. This group, along with another, helped create the ideas of Russian Formalism. Russian Formalism was a new way to understand how poetry and stories are made.
Political Changes and Challenges
Shklovsky was part of the February Revolution in 1917. After this, he worked for the Russian government on the front lines of the war. He was even wounded and received an award for his bravery. Later, he worked with Russian troops in Persia.
He returned to St. Petersburg in early 1918, after the October Revolution. During the Russian Civil War, he did not agree with the Bolsheviks. He was involved in a plan against them. When this plan was found out, Shklovsky had to hide. He traveled around Russia and Ukraine.
However, in 1919, he was pardoned thanks to his connections with the famous writer Maxim Gorky. Shklovsky then decided to stay out of politics. He faced very difficult times during this period. His two brothers died, and his sister passed away from hunger in St. Petersburg.
Life in the Soviet Union and Abroad
Shklovsky later joined Soviet society and even served in the Red Army. But in 1922, he was again in danger of being arrested. He fled to Germany, going through Finland. In Berlin, in 1923, he published his memories of the years 1917–22. This book was called A Sentimental Journey. The title was a nod to a book by Laurence Sterne, an author Shklovsky admired. Sterne's writing style, which often went off-topic, influenced Shklovsky's own work.
In the same year, he was allowed to return to the Soviet Union. This was partly because of a plea he included in his book Zoo, or Letters Not About Love.
In 1963, a scholar named Mihajlo Mihajlov visited Shklovsky. Mihajlov was very impressed by Shklovsky's lively mind and wide range of interests. He felt Shklovsky was "one of the most cultured, most intelligent and best-educated men of our century." Viktor Shklovsky passed away in Moscow in 1984.
Viktor Shklovsky as a Writer and Theorist
Besides writing about literature, Shklovsky also wrote biographies. These were books about the lives of authors like Laurence Sterne, Maxim Gorky, Leo Tolstoy, and Vladimir Mayakovsky. He also wrote some books that seemed like fiction but were actually about his own life. These books helped him test his new ideas about literature.
The Idea of Defamiliarization
Shklovsky is perhaps most famous for creating the idea of ostranenie, also known as defamiliarization. This means making something familiar seem strange or new. This helps people see it in a different way. He explained this idea in 1917 in his important essay "Art as Technique." This essay was the first part of his major book, Theory of Prose, first published in 1925.
Plot and Story Distinction
Shklovsky also helped explain the difference between plot (syuzhet) and story (fabula). The story is the order of events as they actually happened. The plot is how those events are shown to us in a book or movie. For example, a story might start at the end, then go back to the beginning. The actual events are the story, but the way they are presented is the plot.
Influence on Other Thinkers
Shklovsky's work helped Russian Formalism connect literature with how people live in society. This idea became important for other thinkers like Mikhail Bakhtin. Shklovsky's ideas also influenced thinkers in Western countries. This happened partly because his works were translated in the 1960s and 1970s.
Shklovsky's Work in Film
Shklovsky was one of the first serious writers to think deeply about film. A collection of his essays and articles about film was published in 1923. He was good friends with the famous director Sergei Eisenstein. Shklovsky wrote a long book about Eisenstein's life and work.
From the 1920s into the 1970s, Shklovsky also worked as a screenwriter. This means he wrote scripts for many Soviet films. This part of his life is not as well known. In his book Third Factory, Shklovsky wrote about his film work. He said, "First of all, I have a job at the third factory of Goskino. Second of all, the name isn't hard to explain. The first factory was my family and school. The second was Opoyaz. And the third – is processing me at this very moment." This shows how important his film work was to him.
Select Filmography (as writer)
- By the Law, 1926, director Lev Kuleshov, based on a story by Jack London
- Jews on Land, 1927, director Abram Room
- Bed and Sofa, 1927, director Abram Room
- The House on Trubnaya, 1928, director Boris Barnet
- The House of Ice, 1928, director Konstantin Eggert, based on the novel by Ivan Lazhechnikov
- Krazana, 1928, director Kote Mardjanishvili, based on the novel The Gadfly by Ethel Lilian Voynich
- Turksib, documentary, 1929, director Viktor Alexandrovitsh Turin
- Amerikanka (film), 1930, director Leo Esakya
- The Horizon, 1932, director Lev Kuleshov
- Minin and Pozharsky, 1939, director Vsevolod Pudovkin
- The Gadfly, 1956, director Aleksandr Faintsimmer, based on the novel by Ethel Lilian Voynich
- Kazaki, 1961, director Vasili Pronin
Interviews
- Serena Vitale: Shklovsky: Witness to an Era, translated by Jamie Richards, Dalkey Archive Press, Champaign, London, Dublin, 2012 ISBN: 978-1-56478-791-0 (Italian edition first pub. in 1979). This interview is a very important historical document about Shklovsky’s later life and work.
See also
In Spanish: Víktor Shklovski para niños
