Russian formalism in the context of "Michael Silverstein"

Narratology is the study of narrative and narrative structure and the ways that these affect human perception. The term is an anglicisation of French narratologie, coined by Tzvetan Todorov (Grammaire du Décaméron, 1969). Its theoretical lineage is traceable to Aristotle (Poetics) but modern narratology is agreed to have begun with the Russian formalists, particularly Vladimir Propp (Morphology of the Folktale, 1928), and Mikhail Bakhtin's theories of heteroglossia, dialogism, and the chronotope first presented in The Dialogic Imagination (1975).

Cognitive narratology is a more recent development that allows for a broader understanding of narrative. Rather than focus on the structure of the story, cognitive narratology asks "how humans make sense of stories" and "how humans use stories as sense-making instruments".

Viktor Borisovich Shklovsky (Russian: Ви́ктор Бори́сович Шкло́вский, IPA: [ˈʂklofskʲɪj]; 24 January [O.S. 12 January] 1893 – 6 December 1984) was a Russian and Soviet literary theorist, critic, writer, and pamphleteer. He is one of the major figures associated with Russian formalism.

Shklovsky's Theory of Prose was published in 1925. Shklovsky himself is still praised as "one of the most important literary and cultural theorists of the twentieth century" (Modern Language Association Prize Committee); "one of the most lively and irreverent minds of the last century" (David Bellos); "one of the most fascinating figures of Russian cultural life in the twentieth century" (Tzvetan Todorov)

Yury Nikolaevich Tynyanov (Russian: Ю́рий Никола́евич Тыня́нов, IPA: [ˈjʉrʲɪj nʲɪkɐˈlajɪvʲɪtɕ tɨˈnʲænəf]; October 18, 1894 – December 20, 1943) was a Soviet writer, literary critic, translator, scholar and screenwriter. He was an authority on Pushkin and an important member of the Russian Formalist school.

Born in a Jewish community in the Russian Empire in modern-day Latvia, he moved to Saint Petersburg where he completed his education. During the 1920s in the Soviet Union, he published numerous novels, works, and movie scripts, as well as working as a translator. However, his health declined during the 1930s and he died in 1943 from multiple sclerosis.

Boris Mikhailovich Eikhenbaum (Russian: Борис Михайлович Эйхенбаум, IPA: [ɨjxʲɪnˈbaʊm]; 16 October 1886 – 2 November 1959) was a Russian and Soviet literary scholar and historian of Russian literature. He is a representative of Russian formalism.

OPOJAZ (ОПОЯЗ) (Russian: Общество изучения Поэтического Языка, Obščestvo izučenija POètičeskogo JAZyka, "Society for the Study of Poetic Language") was a prominent group of linguists and literary critics in St. Petersburg founded in 1916 and dissolved by the early 1930s. The group included Viktor Shklovsky, Boris Eikhenbaum, Osip Brik, Boris Kušner and Yury Tynianov. Along with the Moscow linguistic circle it was responsible for the development of Russian formalism and literary semiotics. It was dissolved under political pressure as "formalism" came to be a political term of opprobrium in the Soviet state.

The Moscow linguistic circle was a group of social scientists in semiotics, literary theory, and linguistics active in Moscow from 1915 to ca. 1924. Its members included Roman Jakobson (its founder), Filipp Fortunatov, Grigoriy Vinokur, Boris Tomashevsky, and Petr Bogatyrev. The group was a counterpart to the St. Petersburg linguistic group OPOJAZ; between them, these two groups (together with the later Prague linguistic circle) were responsible for the development of Russian formalist literary semiotics and linguistics.

Alexander Nevsky (Russian: Алекса́ндр Не́вский) is a 1938 Soviet historical drama film directed by Sergei Eisenstein. It depicts the attempted invasion of Novgorod in the 13th century by the Teutonic Knights of the Holy Roman Empire and their defeat by Prince Alexander, known popularly as Alexander Nevsky (1220–1263).

Eisenstein made the film in association with Dmitri Vasilyev and with a script co-written with Pyotr Pavlenko; they were assigned to ensure that Eisenstein did not stray into "formalism" and to facilitate shooting on a reasonable timetable. It was produced by Goskino via the Mosfilm production unit, with Nikolai Cherkasov in the title role and a musical score by Sergei Prokofiev. Alexander Nevsky was the first and most popular of Eisenstein's three sound films. Eisenstein, Pavlenko, Cherkasov and Abrikosov were awarded the Stalin Prize in 1941 for the film.

Defamiliarization or ostranenie (Russian: остранение, IPA: [ɐstrɐˈnʲenʲɪjə]) is the artistic technique of presenting to audiences common or ordinary things in an unfamiliar or strange way so they can gain new perspectives. According to the Russian formalists who coined the term, it is the central concept of art and poetry. The concept has influenced 20th-century art and theory, ranging over movements including Dadaism, postmodernism, epic theatre, science fiction, and philosophy. Additionally, it is used as a tactic by certain recent protest movements such as culture jamming.