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Product Identifiers

PublisherNorthwestern University Press

ISBN-100810144905

ISBN-139780810144903

eBay Product ID (ePID)11057241229

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Number of Pages312 Pages

Publication NameOrigins of Russian Literary Theory : Folklore, Philology, Form

LanguageEnglish

Publication Year2022

SubjectEuropean / Eastern (See Also Russian & Former Soviet Union), Russian & Former Soviet Union

TypeTextbook

Subject AreaLiterary Criticism

AuthorJessica Merrill

SeriesStudies in Russian Literature and Theory Ser.

FormatTrade Paperback

Dimensions

Item Height1 in

Item Weight15.1 Oz

Item Length9 in

Item Width6 in

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Intended AudienceScholarly & Professional

LCCN2022-000292

TitleLeadingThe

Dewey Edition23

Reviews"With impressive erudition and admirable lucidity, Jessica Merrill offers a strikingly novel reconstruction of Russian Formalism, placing it in a rich and largely neglected historical context. Her extended discussions of folklore and folkloristics, of the emphasis on the spoken as well as the written word, of the relevance of psychological theories and of contemporary politics, force us to reconsider the movement, its achievements, and its legacy. The book is a major contribution to the study of Western literary theory, and more generally, to twentieth-century intellectual history." --Michael Wachtel, author of The Cambridge Introduction to Russian Poetry, " The Origins of Russian Literary Theory is remarkable for the lucidity of its composition. This clear and wide-ranging book makes an original and significant contribution to the study of Russian Formalism and Czech Structuralism, and thereby also to our understanding of the history of literary theory in the twentieth century--and perhaps its future in the twenty-first." --Ilya Kliger, author of The Narrative Shape of Truth: Veridiction in Modern European Literature "Merrill's book attests to the inspiring vitality of Russian Formalism for contemporary literary studies. It approaches this subject from a new and insightful perspective and provides provocative vistas on this seminal school of criticism." --Peter Steiner, author of Russian Formalism: A Metapoetics " The Origins of Russian Literary Theory focuses on the role of comparative philology in the formation of Formalist concepts. The author efficiently considers both branches of the Formalist School--OPOIAZ and the Moscow Linguistic Circle--and explores why they favored folklore studies and sociolinguistic disciplines, such as dialectology (a fact largely disregarded in previous scholarship). As it is quite a departure from the traditional narrow view of Russian Formalism, Merrill's book is a fascinating read for both literary theorists and intellectual historians." --Igor Pilshchikov, coeditor of Epokha "ostraneniia" (The Age of "Estrangement": Russian Formalism and Contemporary Humanities), "Merrill's book is a major reinterpretation of the early stages of literary theory in Russia and their wider impact. Her narrative is attentive to detail, while remaining sure-footed when capturing the bigger picture. A rewarding piece of research that makes a strong contribution to the field." --Galin Tihanov, author of The Birth and Death of Literary Theory: Regimes of Relevance in Russia and Beyond

Dewey Decimal801.950947

Table Of ContentAcknowledgements Note on the Text Introduction: The Philological Paradigm 1. Comparative Philology 2. The Author as Performer 3. The Psychology of Poetic Form 4. Inside the Moscow Linguistic Circle: Poetic Dialectology 5. Structuralisms Conclusion: Formalism and Philology in the Twenty-First Century Appendix Notes Bibliography Index

SynopsisRussian Formalism is widely considered the foundation of modern literary theory. This book reevaluates the movement in light of the current commitment to rethink the concept of literary form in cultural-historical terms. Jessica Merrill provides a novel reconstruction of the intellectual historical context that enabled the emergence of Formalism in the 1910s. Formalists adopted a mode of thought Merrill calls the philological paradigm , a framework for thinking about language, literature, and folklore that lumped them together as verbal tradition. For those who thought in these terms, verbal tradition was understood to be inseparable from cultural history. Merrill situates early literary theories within this paradigm to reveal abandoned paths in the history of the discipline--ideas that were discounted by the structuralist and post-structuralist accounts that would emerge after World War II. The Origins of Russian Literary Theory reconstructs lost Formalist theories of authorship, of the psychology of narrative structure, and of the social spread of poetic innovations. According to these theories, literary form is always a product of human psychology and cultural history. By recontextualizing Russian Formalism within this philological paradigm, the book highlights the aspects of Formalism's legacy that speak to the priorities of twenty-first-century literary studies., Russian Formalism is considered the foundational movement of modern literary theory. This book reevaluates the school given the current commitment within literary studies to rethink the concept of literary form in cultural-historical terms.

LC Classification NumberPN98.F6M47 2022

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Studies in Russian Literature and Theory Ser.: Origins of Russian Literary Theory : Folklore, Philology, Form by Jessica Merrill (2022, Trade Paperback)

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