Formalism (literature)
Formalism in literature is an analytical approach that emphasizes the structural elements of a text, such as plot, narrative style, motifs, and word choice. This method prioritizes an in-depth examination of these formal components to derive meaning and evaluate literary works independently of external factors like historical or social context. Originating in the early twentieth century, formalism is closely linked with Russian formalism, which aimed to distinguish literature as a unique art form with intrinsic aesthetic principles.
Key principles of formalism include the belief that literature contains unique textual elements that are not applicable to other writing forms and that understanding a text requires a focus solely on its internal structure. This technique encourages a detailed analysis of how various parts of a text interact to create a cohesive whole. While formalism has evolved, with branches such as new criticism and speculative formalism emerging, it remains a significant framework in literary studies. New criticism, in particular, advocates for "close reading," a method that scrutinizes language and structure to reveal deeper meanings and aesthetic qualities. Ultimately, formalism represents a rigorous, text-centered approach to literary analysis, fostering a deeper appreciation for the artistry of literature.
Formalism (literature)
Formalism is an analytical model used in literary theory and criticism. It concentrates on formal elements, such as plot, structure, narrative strategy, motifs, themes, word choice, the use of rhetorical devices, and writing style. These elements are carefully analyzed to form a text-centered interpretation and evaluation of the work being studied. At its core, formalism is concerned with what differentiates literary writing from other forms of writing. It seeks to define and explore the specific aspects of literary works that elevate them above the level of lower genres of writing.
For formalists, literature exists independently of the historical, social, and political contexts in which it was written. Taken to their extreme, formalist ideas even go so far as to exclude the author as an interpretive criterion; formalism is concerned solely with the text itself, and is disinterested in the text's relationship with external elements.
Formalism developed during the early twentieth century. It is closely associated with a related critical model known as new criticism, which became a highly influential literary theory during the middle decades of the twentieth century.
Background
Literary formalism is rooted in Russian formalism, which originated with the work of the linguists and literary critics who founded the Moscow Linguistic Circle in 1915 and the Petrograd-based Society for the Study of Poetic Language in 1916. These two groups collaborated to compile three works of literary theory, which were published in 1916, 1917, and 1919. Their works focused on applied theories of poetic language and were primarily concerned with divergences between poetic language and everyday parlance.
The membership of the Society for the Study of Poetic Language was largely composed of literary historians who considered literature a distinct art form. They believed that written literature should be examined independently and free of undue preoccupation with the linguistics-based modes of inquiry favored by the Moscow Linguistic Circle. It was from this viewpoint that formalism would evolve.
In spite of the philosophical differences between the two societies, members of both groups held two important common principles that went on to form the basis of formalism. First, they sought to bring a methodical order to the study and evaluation of literature and envisioned a kind of literary analogue to the scientific method. They also wanted to develop an analytical and theoretical system that contravened the notion that art reflects real life, an idea that was prevalent in academia at the time. Instead, the early Russian formalists believed that all art forms, including literature, had their own innate aesthetic principles that could be identified and used as standards for the evaluation of all works in a particular artistic field.
The early Russian formalists also disagreed that concepts and ideas from other fields, such as philosophy, political science, psychoanalysis, and sociology, held any value in the study of literature. In this regard, they were at odds with the dominant literary historians of their day, who favored a more interdisciplinary approach to literary interpretation. They asserted this notion by considering texts in strict isolation, looking only at the words on the page and marginalizing all other aspects of literary production, including its historical, social, and political contexts.
Overview
The work of the early Russian formalists attracted growing interest from scholars and academics, leading their theories to be applied to a wider body of work. As formalist theory matured, it came to include a set of common principles that literary critics and historians continually returned to, even though their specific ideas about what makes a given text "good" or "bad" were not always the same. One such principle is the idea that literature contains textual elements that are intrinsically literary and apply to no other type of writing and no other form of artistic expression. Another key principle of formalism is the notion that the key to understanding a given text comes from within the text itself, and not from external factors such as historical context, a text's relationship to other literary works, or even authorship.
When analyzing or evaluating a text, formalists ask questions such as, "How do all the text's parts come together to form a whole?" and "How do each of the text's parts support or fail to support an identifiable thematic or stylistic strategy?" Formalists also pay a great deal of attention to the ways in which the various parts of a text interconnect, and they look carefully at the relationship between a text's form and its content. Another common formalist strategy is to seek out and analyze a passage or section of a work that encapsulates the style, themes, and unifying ideas of the entire text.
Formalism also represents a modern revival of time-honored Aristotelian ideas about the relationship between aesthetic form and function, which eventually blossomed into a specific branch of formalist literary theory known as neo-Aristotelianism. Neo-Aristotelianism is also known as the Chicago school, owing to its genesis at the University of Chicago during the 1930s.
Another, more well-known branch of formalism called new criticism developed during the 1930s and 1940s in the United States and Great Britain. New criticism encouraged textual analysis using a method known as close reading, in which elements such as word choice, sentence or verse structure, the use of metaphors and other figures of speech, and indicators of theme are thoroughly scrutinized. The objective of a close reading is to uncover relationships between key parts or passages of a text and the text as a whole. For adherents of new criticism, close readings also yield important clues about the aesthetic sensibilities and unifying qualities of a given author. While new criticism is sometimes cited as an alternate term for formalism, it is more accurate to view it as its own subdivision of formalist theory.
While the rigid early school of formalism does not currently have the same level of popularity that it once held, new criticism continues to be a prominent element of literary study. Another new branch of formalism known as speculative formalism has recently gained traction. Speculative formalism removes the barriers of classical formalism that sealed texts off from their external elements and instead encourages readers to apply formalist methods to a text's relationship with its historical, social, and political influences.
Bibliography
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