Russian Formalism/Prague Linguistic Circle/Linguistic Criticism/Dialogic Theory These linguistic movements began in the 1920s, were suppressed by the Soviets in the 1930s, moved to Czechoslovakia and were continued by members of the Prague Linguistic Circle (including Roman Jakobson (YAH-keb-sen), Jan Mukarovsky, and René Wellek). The Prague Linguistic Circle viewed literature as a special class of language, and rested on the assumption that there is a fundamental opposition between literary (or poetical) language and ordinary language. Formalism views the primary function of ordinary language as communicating a message, or information, by references to the world existing outside of language. In contrast, it views literary language as self-focused: its function is not to make extrinsic references, but to draw attention to its own formal features--that is, to interrelationships among the linguistic signs themselves. Literature is held to be subject to critical analysis by the sciences of linguistics but also by a type of linguistics different from that adapted to ordinary discourse, because its laws produce the distinctive features of literariness (Abrams, pp. 165-166). An important contribution made by Victor Schklovsky (of the Leningrad group) was to explain how language--through a period of time--tends to become smooth, unconscious or transparent. In contrast, the work of literature is to defamiliarize language by a process of making strange. Dialogism refers to a theory, initiated by Mikhail Bakhtin (bahk-TEEN), arguing that in a dialogic work of literature--such as in the writings of Dostoevsky--there is a polyphonic interplay of various characters voices ... where no worldview is given superiority over others; neither is that voice which may be identified with the authors necessarily the most engaging or persuasive of all those in the text (Childers & Hentzi, p. 81). Key Terms: Carnival - For Bakhtin, carnival reflected the lived life of medieval and early modern peoples. In carnival, official authority and high culture were jostled from below by elements of satire, parody, irony, mimicry, bodily humor, and grotesque display. This jostling from below served to keep society open, to liberate it from deadening... (Bressler 276 - see General Resources below). Heteroglossia - refers, first, to the way in which every instance of language use - every utterance - is embedded in a specific set of social circumstances, and second, to the way the meaning of each particular utterance is shaped and influenced by the many-layered context in which it occurs (Sarah Willen, Dialogism and Heteroglossia) Monologism - having one single voice, or representing one single ideological stance or perspective, often used in opposition to the Bakhtinian dialogical. In a monological form, all the characters voices are subordinated to the voice of the author (Malcolm Hayward). Polyphony - a term used by Mikhail Bakhtin to describe a dialogical text which, unlike a monological text, does not depend on the centrality of a single authoritative voice. Such a text incorporates a rich plurality and multiplicity of voices, styles, and points of view. It comprises, in Bakhtins phrase, a plurality of independent and unmerged voices and consciousnesses, a genuine polyphony of fully valid voices (Henderson and Brown - Glossary of Literary Theory). Further references: • Bakhtin, Mikhail. The Dialogic Imagination: Four Essays and Problems of Dostoevskys Poetics. • Bennett, Tony. Formalism and Marxism. London, 1979. • Ehrlich, Victor. Russian Formalism: History, Doctrine. • Garvin, Paul L. (trans.) A Prague School Reader. Washington DC: Georgetown Academic P, 1973. • Holquist, Michael. Dialogism: Bakhtin and His World. London: Routledge, 1990. • Jakobson, Roman. Closing Statement: Linguistics and Poetics. Ed. Sebeok, Thomas. Style in Language, pp. 350-377. • Jefferson, Anne and David Robey. Modern Literary Theory: A Comparative Introduction. See chapters 1 and 2. • Lemon, Lee T. and Marion J. Reese. Russian Formalist Criticism: Four Essays. • Lodge, David. After Bakhtin: Essays on Fiction and Criticism. London: Routledge, 1990. • Medvedev, P.N. and Mikhail Bakhtin. The Formal Method in Literary Scholarship: A Critical Introduction to Sociological Poetics. • Mukarovsky, Jan. Aesthetic Function, Norm and Value as Social Facts. Trans. M. E. Suino. Ann Arbor: Michigan State UP, 1979. • Thompson, E.M. Russian Formalism and Anglo-American New Criticism. • Wellek, René. The Literary Theory and Aesthetics of the Prague School. Suggested Websites: • Prague Linguistic Circle - Dr. John Gohol • Mikhail Bakhtin by Dr. Mary Klages - University of Colorado at Boulder • Russian Formalism - Johns Hopkins Guide to Literary Theory & Criticism • The Bakhtin Circle - by Dr. Craig Brandist - The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy • Russian Formalism - Dr. John Gohol • Dialogism: An International Journal of Bakhtin Studies - The Bakhtin Centre - University of Sheffield
Posted on: Tue, 05 Aug 2014 08:51:15 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015