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Geneva, Lausanne: Sdvig Press, 2014. — 247 p. — ISBN : 978-2-9700829-3-4.
Russian Formalism, one of this century's most important movements in literary criticism, has received far less attention than most of its rivals. Examining Formalism in light of the most recent developments in literary theory, Peter Steiner offers in his work the most comprehensive critique of the movement to date. This is an extremely useful book, one that anyone interested in Russian Formalism and modern critical theory will want to read. It will not replace Victor Erlich's magisterial study, also called Russian Formalism (1955), but it will certainly be a companion to it. Erlich was a pioneer, describing in broad outlines and comprehensive detail the history, doctrines, and practice of a critical movement yet unknown in the West and still suppressed in its native land. Steiner has had the advantage of a number of important studies, including of course Erlich's. and three decades during which Russian Formalism, through its off-spring, Structuralism, has become part of our critical discourse. Where Erlich is extensive, touching all bases hut lingering on few, Steiner is intensive, probing with admirable critical acumen and impressive erudition the theoretical principles, their provenance and their place in modern intellectual history.PrefaceWho is formalism, what Is she?The three metaphorsThe MachineThe OrganismThe SystemA SynecdocheZaum’VerseExpressionThe developmental significance of russian formalism
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formalisms Peter Steiner RUSSIAN FORMALISM A METAPOETICS sdvig press Geneva | Lausanne ISBN : 978-2-9700829-3-4 © 2014 sdvig press Place de la Louve 3, 1003 Lausanne www.sdvigpress.org For the 1st Edition – © 1984 Cornell University Press All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form (electronic, recording, etc.) without prior written permission of the publisher. Digital version in Open Access: www.sdvigpress.org/pub-101439 Table of Contents Preface 7 1 Who Is Formalism, What Is She? 13 2 The Three Metaphors 39 The Machine 39 The Organism 60 The System 85 3 A Synecdoche 117 Zaum’ 119 Verse 145 Expression 168 4 The Developmental Significance of Russian Formalism 205 Bibliography 231 Index 241 Blond hair, good look’n’, wants me to marry, get a home, settle down, write a book— ahhhhhhhhhhhh! Too much monkey business, too much monkey business, –CHUCK BERRY Preface It has been almost thirty years since this book was published and, as might have been expected, the responses it has received were far from uniform. I myself have questions about some of its conclusions and yet I think that most of its critics have misunderstood my theoretical intentions. No doubt, I am partially to blame for not making my assumptions clear and I would like to take this opportunity to correct some problems. Not surprisingly, it was the subtitle of the book—A Metapoetics— that has generated most of the disputes. The responses can be reduced to three basic approaches. Is it legitimate to treat the literary-theoretical discourse of the Formalists in terms of poetic tropes? In what sense is my method truly “metapoetic” and how does it differ from any other presentation of Formalist theories within the general frame of intellectual history? And finally, can a tropological typology (however complex) present historical phenome