Yury Tynyanov
Yury Tynyanov was a prominent Russian writer, literary critic, theorist, and screenwriter, born on October 18, 1894, in Rezhitsa, Russia, now part of Latvia. Educated at Petrograd University, he graduated in 1918 and began publishing literary criticism in 1921, focusing notably on the works of Alexander Pushkin. Tynyanov was instrumental in the development of Russian Formalism, a critical theory that applied scientific methods to the study and interpretation of literature. His theoretical work, co-authored with Roman Jakobson, played a significant role in establishing this school of thought.
Throughout his career, Tynyanov translated influential works, including the poetry of Heinrich Heine, and authored historical novellas that combined elements of parody and folklore. Despite facing political challenges under Stalin's regime, which led to his exile from academia, he continued to express his views through literature and film. Tynyanov's influence extends beyond Russian literature; his ideas have impacted notable theorists and movements, including Mikhail Bakhtin and New Criticism. He passed away in Moscow on December 20, 1943, but his contributions to literary theory and cinema remain significant to this day.
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Yury Tynyanov
Writer
- Born: October 6, 1894
- Birthplace: Rezhitsa (modern Rezekne), Latvia, Russia
- Died: December 20, 1943
- Place of death: Moscow, U.S.S.R. (now in Russia)
Biography
Yury Tynyanov was born on October 18, 1894 in Rezhitsa, Russia, now Rezhitsa Rezekne, Latvia. He received his education at Petrograd University, graduating in 1918. A leading scholar of the writings of Alexander Pushkin, Tynyanov began publishing works of literary criticism in 1921.
As a writer, translator, theorist, critic, novelist, and screenwriter, Tynyanov’s contribution to Russian letters is significant. He was the first to translate the poetry of Heinrich Heine from German into Russian. Heine’s haunting motif of homesickness for an unrecoverable past would resonate with Russians during the reign of Joseph Stalin. Tynyanov enjoyed a career as an academic until staunch Stalinists questioned the legitimacy of Russian Formalism, a school of thought advocated by Tynyanov and his associates between 1915 and 1930. In the 1920’s, when Soviet authorities purged academia of intellectual dissidents, Tynyanov was forced out of the classroom. Undeterred, he turned to literature and film as forums to express his views. Having suffered the debilitating effects of multiple sclerosis for most of his adult life, Tynyanov died in Moscow on December 20, 1943, at the age of forty-nine.
Tynyanov was coauthor with Roman Jakobson of the groundbreaking theoretical work on Russian philology, Remarques sur l’èvolution phonologie du russe comparée à celle des authres langues slaves, published in 1929. The book heralded the emergence of Russian Formalism (also known as Structuralism) as the leading critical theory of the early twentieth century. Formalism established a systematic study of literature and its properties; it examined the evolutionary patterns of literature and its genres, such as folktales, in an historical context to derive meaning. As such, it applied scientific methodologies to the study and interpretation of literature, its development, usage, and significance.
In the composition of his historical novellas, Podporuchik Kizhe (1930; Lieutenant Kizhe, 1991) and Maloletnyi Vitushishnikov (1933; Young Vitushishnikov, 1991), Tynyanov was able to exercise certain elements of his semiotic theories. His novels display a penchant for parody, eccentricity, historical veracity, and folklore. In a very real sense, he paid tribute to Russia’s literary past while simultaneously mocking its political present. Tynyanov also wrote the screenplays for three pioneering Russian films: Shinel, S. V. D., and Poruchik Kizhe.
Tynyanov’s ideas influenced such noted literary theorists as Mikhail Bahktin, whose theories of the dialogic imagination and carnival influenced French philosopher Jacques Derrida; Derrida’s concept of deconstruction, essentially the belief that all meaning is unstable, continues to impact literary theory in the twenty-first century. New Criticism, the American version of Russian Formalism, also owes Tynyanov a major debt. Although overshadowed by his colleague, Jakobson, Tynyanov’s contributions to modern literary theory should not be disregarded. His influence on Russian cinema in its infancy is equally noteworthy.