Article

Name: “A HISTORY OF THE NOVEL / ROMANCE”: VIKTOR SHKLOVSKY IN THE MOSCOW LINGUISTIC CIRCLE

Authors: I. Pilshchikov, A. Ustinov

Institute for World Culture of Lomonosov Moscow State University, Moscow, Russian Federation; University of California, Los Angeles, USA; Tallinn University, Tallinn, Estonia; “Aquilon” Books & Publishing, San Francisco, USA

In the section History of Studies in Plot (Literature and Arts)

Abstract: The article, “‘А History of the Novel / Romance’: Viktor Shklovsky in the Moscow Linguistic Circle,” reconstructs the circumstances of Shklovsky’s first talk in the Moscow Linguistic Circle (MLC) and outlines the history of his relationship with Moscow-based Formalists (1919– 1921). The authors describe the evolution of Shklovsky\’s theoretical views and determine that the dominant theme of his work during this period was the theory of literary plot, in which the plot is interpreted as an artistic device. Shklovsky’s involvement in the activities of the MLC had a dual purpose: establishing relations with the Petrograd community of literary scholars, who published, in May 1919, a collection of articles under the title: Poetics: Collections on the Theory of Poetic Language, as well as organizing collaborative publishing projects. These intentions were never realized: after the Roman Jakobson’s departure abroad, the MLC changed its methodological orientation and found itself in crisis, which led to its disintegration. However, the aforementioned plan of collaboration between the Moscow and Petrograd scholars served as a decisive stimulus for the design and of the OPOIAZ (The Society for the Study of Poetic Language) in the Fall of 1919. Shklovsky\’s scholarly interests at that time were focused on the study and systematic description of the devices of plot-formation and the construction of a general theory of plot. From preliminary generalizations on the art of cinema, he proceeded to the study of European classical prose (Miguel Cervantes and Lawrence Stern). His talks given at the MLC in 1920 and 1921 were devoted to the analysis of a literary plot in Don Quixote, Tristram Shandy, and the writings of Vasilii Rozanov. These talks echoed his publications in The Life of Art. (The story of Shklovsky’s short-term cooperation with this newspaper is also reconstructed in this article.) The construction of the theory of plot soon became one of the Leitmotifs and, at the same time, one of the constructive principles of organization of his own memoirist prose of the 1920s. Shklovsky’s first talk at the MLC, the text of which did not survive, was delivered on June 10, 1919. It was titled “The History of the Novel” and caused a heated discussion about the literary plot. The minutes from the meeting reveal that the speaker’s main opponent was Roman Jacobson, a long-term friend and rival of Shklovsky. The last section of this article includes a commented publication of the minutes from the meeting of the MLC on June 10, 1919 and Jakobson’s notes made during the dispute that followed Shklovsky’s début. (Both documents are preserved at the V.V. Vinogradov Russian Language Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences in Moscow.)

Keywords: viktor shklovsky, roman jakobson, osip brik, theory of prose, theory of a literary plot, artistic device, russian formalism, opoiaz, moscow linguistic circle, history of literary theory

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