Formalism was an aesthetic literary theory that emerged in the early 20th century as a reaction against romanticism and Marxism. It focused on analyzing the formal elements of a work of art, such as rhythm, meter, and syntax, rather than its historical context or political message. The theory originated in Russia and flourished there from 1910-1920 before spreading to other countries. Formalism held that meaning is derived from a work's formal qualities and that form and content are inseparable. Key thinkers included Russian formalists like Viktor Shklovsky and Boris Eichenbaum who analyzed devices that make literature seem strange or unfamiliar.

1. WELCOME FORMALISM

2. BACKGROUND
 Eliot called the theory as lemon squeeze
method
Aesthetic rather than political movement
Started around 1910
A new beginning in literary theory- first
practical criticism
A short lived trend

3. How meaning is derived from any art of
work
Meaning
Textual Contextual

4. WHAT IS FORMALISM?
It came from the word form
Look at the formal devices
Formal devices include rhythm, metre, rhyme,
syntax, metaphor, metonymy etc.
Take out meaning from this formal devices
Started in Russia around 1910 flourished till
1920

5. Formalism
Moscow Linguistic Circle Prague
Linguistic Circle
(Roman Jakobson) (Viktor
Shklovsky)

6. DEFINITION
“An aesthetic tendency characterized by
the separation of form and content of art
and literature in which the predominant
significance is given to formal aspects”- M
H Abrams

7. PRECURSORS OF FORMALISM
E.Hanslick –movement of musicology
Heinrich Wolfflin –art criticism(painting)
Oscar Walzel- distinguished between
form and content

8. WHY FORMALISM
Reaction against romanticism of 19th
century
Reaction against the USSR rule in Russia
Reaction against Marxist ideology

9. RUSSIAN FORMALISM
Moscow Linguist Circle
1914
Roman Jakobson & Petr Bogatyrev- primary
proponents
OPOJAZ(Obshchestro Izucheniia Poeticheskogo
Yazyka)
1916
Boris Eichenbaum, Viktor Shklovsky & Yury Tynynav

10. INITIAL THOUGHT IN THE THEORY
Vladimir Mayakovsky
Creation through experiments which will result
in a form that contains semantic meaning of the
resulting work
European symbolists
“Art is Free, Life is paralyzed”
Friedrich Nietzsche Henry Bergson

11. BORIS EICHENBAUM
A science of literature which is independent
and factual
Literature is made of language , so linguistics
is the base
Literature is autonomous
It has its own history of innovations
It is not possible to separate content and form
–all are one

12. THANK YOU