Formalism for Beginners

 Formalism is an objective method of analyzing a text focusing on the work itself. It examines the inherent poetic devices used in a text. By using an artistically enhanced language, the writer can overcome the common and expected pattern of using a language. It renegotiates the expected patterns through various formal devises and sticks on to the innovative and decorative use of language. 

Form is rather more important than the content. Form is the decorative wrapping of the content. In Formalism the emphasis lies on the presentation of the literary text, how it looks matters rather that what it actually is. In order to intensify the effect of language writers constitute a complete deviation from ordinary language.

Russian formalism mainly studies and evaluates the nature of poetic language. Often associated with the works of Roman Jacobson, Viktor shklovsky, Boris Eicjenbaum and juri Tynyanov. They believe literature in general and poetry in particular have a special function of language. The purpose of Formalistic criticism is to discover some underlying features of language such as Literariness, Defamiliarisation and Forgrounding

The term ‘Defamiliarisation’ was Coined by Viktor Shklovsky in his critical essay " Art as a technique " which means the ability to make something strange and unfamiliar. 

We have over exposes to familiar things, so the purpose of literature is make it new. Or make something strange that is over familiar to you. 

The term ‘Literariness’ was coined by Roman Jacobson.it is concerned with the quality needed to a literary language in order to distinguish literature from other kinds of communication. It marks a complete departure from ordinary language. Literariness is an elevated or special use of everyday language or an artistically enhanced language. He asserts the fact that there is a fundamental opposition between literary language and the language we use in our day to day communication. According to Roman Jacobson: “Literature is an organized violence committed upon ordinary language”
 

poetic language foregrounds its own use, in the sense  poetic language doesn't seek to convey information instead it draws attention to its own utterances to what and how it is saying. Jan Mukarovsky, therefore declared that the function of poetic language consist of the maximum foregrounding of the utterances.

Every literary text is make use of language in such a way that everyday objects could be made to look different, extraordinary or even strange. A literary text represents the world in such a way that ordinary things appear different. This is what captures reader's attention. This process is what Victor Shklovsky termed as defamiliarisation

Fabula and Sjuzet/syuzhet are the significant terms in Russian formalism, associated to narratology,that describes narrative construction. Sjuzet means plot which means the narrative method. According to Viktor shklovsky sjuzet is the defamiliarised form of Fabula(story). 

Fabula is the chronological order of events contained in the story. These terms were first used in this sense by Vladimir Propp and Viktor Shklovsky. 

A story can be made unfamiliar by its reformulation into plot with stunning twists, omissions, diagressions and postponement of important information. The fabula is the raw material of the story. And Sjuzet is the way a story is organized.