Russian literary critic, theorist of literature, writer, journalist, screenwriter, film theorist.
He was born on 12 (24) January 1893 in Saint-Petersburg. Father – Boris Vladimirovich Shklovsky, teacher, contained before the revolution a "trade school", and mathematical "courses for adults", after the revolution, a Professor of Higher artillery courses. Mother – Varvara Karlovna Shklovsky (nee. Bundeli), a housewife. Uncle paternal – Isaak Vladimirovich Shklovsky (pseud. Dioneo), critic and publicist before the revolution lived abroad.
Shklovsky showed early interest in art (by his own admission, still in high school, he wrote works of prose and work on the theory of prose). The first publication was published in the magazine "Spring" H.G.Shebuev (1908).
Went through a few schools before he graduated from high school and entered the philological faculty of St. Petersburg University, where he studied for three years, being also engaged in the art school of L. V. Sherwood.
On 23 December 1913 in the literary and artistic cabaret "stray dog" Shklovsky read the report of the Place of futurism in the history of the language, which then grew the concept of development literature that they develop for life. On the basis of the report was written the first major theoretical work – the book the Resurrection of the word (1914). Many of the provisions as well as actual examples, taken from the works of Russian philologists A. A. of Potebnya (1835-1891) and A. N. Veselovsky (1838-1906). The author passionately defended the idea that the perception of any artistic phenomenon, whether a single word or the whole work, with time automatiseret and as a result: "We are going through the usual, do not see it and find out." We want art to be "experienced" again, we have to change perceptions, destroy automatism. To make the update forms are called futurists. Already here one can distinguish vegetalization the most important concepts, until the terms "vision" and "recognition". It is important to them and picked up from the theoretical developments of Potebnya provision dealing with loss of word imagery that is poetic. The statement, which is then converted into the juxtaposition of the two languages – the language of poetry and prose. The report and the brochure became the starting point for the formation of a new literary school of Russian formalism.
On 8 February 1914 in the evening "About the new word", held in the Tenishev school, Shklovsky spoke Of the resurrection of things, in which I developed similar ideas. Both performances attracted the attention of the public, aided by loud scandal provoked by the speakers on the evening writers, among them speaker.
The same year saw the light a collection of poetry Shklovsky Lead the lot, but bubbling temperament could not replace poetic talent. And this is true: Shklovsky never owned a "pure" genres (so it does not become an event of its vast historical fiction), despite the fact that as a professional writer was able to write everything from newspaper columns to the Opera libretto.
In the autumn of 1914, shortly after the outbreak of the First world war, he spent as a volunteer in the army. After several military specialties, returned in 1915 to Petrograd, where he served as the school of armour officers-instructors.
During this period, with a group of associates (L. P. Yakubinsky, E. D. Polivanov, O. M. Brik, etc.) he prepares first and second editions of Collections on the theory of poetic language (1916, 1917) and later became a textbook work of Shklovsky On poetry and zaum language and art as a method. In the last article, a kind of "Manifesto" of the formal school, with polemical urgency stated: "art is a way to survive doing things, and made art is not important." To break the automatism of perception capable of, among other things, a special device, designed to increase the "difficulty and longitude of perception", "defamiliarisation" – (a term produced from the words "strange"). The author talks about "estrangement", it is not only possible, but as one of the ways, citing creative practice L. N. Tolstoy (for example, description of a theatrical performance in the novel War and peace painted pictures representing trees, a hole in the canvas, implying the moon, singing, reproducing the human passions, etc.), although this admission is found in different authors and is widely used in the folk – songs, riddles and so on. By definition, given already in the sixties, "defamiliarisation" is "show subject outside the usual range."
Intense scientific work has not prevented Shklovsky to take an active part in the February revolution of 1917. He became a member of the Committee of the Petrograd Reserve armored division, as its representative participates in the work of the first Petrograd Soviet. As assistant Commissioner of the Provisional government goes to the South-Western front, 3 July 1917 during the summer offensive shows miracles of courage. The order of August 5, reads: "Standing in the trenches, he was under strong artillery and machine-gun fire of the enemy cheered the regiment. When it was time to attack the enemy, he first jumped out of the trenches and dragged him to the regiment. Going all the time in front of the regiment, he passed 4 rows of barbed wire, 2 rows of trenches and crossed the river under a valid rifle, machine gun and artillery fire, taking all the time for the regiment and all the time encouraging his examples and words. Being wounded at the last barbed wire in the stomach through and seeing that the regiment wavered and wants to retreat, he, Shklovsky, wounded, stood up and gave the order to dig in". St. George cross 4-th degree Shklovsky received from the hands of L. G. Kornilov. Later, again as the assistant Commissioner of the Provisional government, he goes to Northern Iran, where watching the evacuation of the Russian troops and returns only in early 1918. In Petrograd included in cultural life, works of art and historical Commission of the Winter Palace.
A sharp rejection of Bolshevism forced Shklovsky to get close with the right SRS. He takes an active part in anti-Soviet conspiracy, in particular, in the preparation of the coup. When the plot was discovered, Shklovsky leaves Petrograd and went to the Volga region. Living in Saratov, some time hiding in a madhouse, simultaneously working on the creation of the theory of prose: "I Wrote the book. the Plot as a phenomenon of style. Books needed for quotes, brought, embroidered sheets, individual pieces".
Then sent to Kiev, where he served in the 4th division avtopanorama, disabling an armored car involved in a failed attempt to overthrow the Hetman Skoropadsky.
Fulfilling the request of the familiar, having had to deliver a large sum of money in Petrograd, disguised and with a large group of former prisoners of war returning from Austria, gets almost to Moscow itself. Recognized investigator, escaping imminent arrest, which he must undergo as a member of the SR combat organization on the move jumping from the train. When they reached the capital, meets with A. M. Gorky, who intercedes for him in front of Y. M. Sverdlov. According to some sources, he gives him a document on the letterhead of the CEC, which contains the requirement to stop business Shklovsky. At the end of the year decides to no longer participate in political activities.
In early 1919 Shklovsky returned to Petrograd. This circumstance contributed to the fact that the party of the social revolutionaries, whose leadership called for the abandonment of armed resistance, he was pardoned.
Shklovsky writes a lot about literature, painting, theater, mass spectacle, the circus, defending the independence of the artistic sphere of ideology: ""Art has always been at ease from life, and its color never reflected the color of the flag over the fortress of the city." This question is typical of the formal method, who told the laws of literature as immanent, and saw the reason for the change of artistic forms to replace old forms, and therefore do not perceive, new.
He teaches in the Studio art transfer Central publishing house "world literature" literary theory and teaching continued when the Studio moved to the House of Arts, where it is converted into a Literary Studio. There is reading Shklovsky theory of prose. Working on memories, regularly published in the newspaper "Life of art". It appears the article is Cinema as art, and in the newspaper "Art commune" – an article About the film. A separate edition is published article linking techniques of plot construction General techniques of style (1919), a fragment of an extensive work on the theory of prose, Shklovsky conceived, and the collective collection of the Poetry (the third series of the Collections on the theory of poetic language).
In the spring of 1920 Shklovsky shoot in a duel. Then leave Petrograd and goes in search of his wife (went to Ukraine, fleeing from hunger), in the red army participating in the battle of Aleksandrovsk, Kherson and Kakhovka. Returns to Petrograd, settling in the hostel art House. On 9 October 1920 he was elected Professor of the Russian Institute of art history at the section of theory of literature faculty of history of the verbal arts.
Shklovsky crucial role played in the history of the group "Serapion's brothers ", which included some of his listeners at the Studio at the publishing house "world literature" and Literary Studio of the House of arts. He is not only the author of the first article about "Serapion", but an active participant in the meetings, though was not formally a member of the group (according to one source nicknamed "brother kicker", others "brother raging"), thanks to his efforts saw the light a collection of Serapion's brothers. The first almanac, 1922). Recognizing his influence on "serapionov", Shklovsky says: "Luntz, Slonimsky, silber, Elizaveta Polonskaya – my students. Only I don't teach writing; I told them what literature is".
In 1921 and early 1922 actively published in magazines "Petersburg", "House of arts", "Book corner", separate prints out his article, the Deployment of the story. How is "don Quixote," "Tristram Shandy" Sterne and the theory of the novel, Rozanov, published written in 1919 memoir book Revolution and the front (1921).
The appearance in Berlin of a book by G. Semenova Combat and military work of the party of socialists-revolutionaries in 1918-1919 (1922), where he mentioned Shklovsky, ruined the situation. Among the former socialist began the arrests, and Shklovsky rightly feared for his life and freedom.
Returning home at night on March 4, 1922, he noticed that the window and its neighboring rooms lit up. Without things, with one sledge, which was carrying the firewood, he went to friends. Having lived in Petrograd for ten days, Shklovsky on the ice of the Gulf of Finland runs to Finland.
His wife, taken hostage, is some time in prison. "Freed her for Viru 200 rubles in gold. Vira turned out to be "wild", as made her kupno writers. The main Serapioni" he wrote to Maxim Gorky. In Finnish the quarantine is working on a sequel memoir, telling about the events of the recent past, including about his work in revolutionary organization. The book was written in such a way that it was impossible to glean compromising information to any third party. I was Finishing the book already in Berlin, where he published under the title a Sentimental journey (1923), joining in as separate parts previously appeared the Revolution and the front and the epilogue.
The book fully embodies the literary manner of Shklovsky. The tense tone and biblical symbolism (wind, closing the circle), unexpected images (monkeys, birds, tree) and a simple biblical descriptions of the untold hardships the Russians, Assyrians and Kurds, memories of Persia, interspersed with memories of Galicia, Kiev, and Petrograd, created a single picture of Russia in 1917-1922.
Since the end of 1922 Shklovsky begins to make arrangements for his return home. While working hard – she gives lectures, writes articles and collaborates with the firm "Russellism". In Berlin the book Literature and cinematography (1923) and the horse (1923), compiled from articles written in 1919-1921. The name is no accident. And supporters and strict opponents, with rare exception, did not understand that the basis of this prose is not showy stylistic device and a definite system of thought. He that borrowed his own short phrase from a Russian newspaper feuilleton, in particular, the journalist and publicist V. M. doroshevich, and some intonation moves from V. V. Rozanov, Shklovsky builds the text is not according to a linear logic of presentation, and following his own associations, sometimes completely away from the subject, to suddenly return to it. In the beginning of the book the author has placed the image of the chessboard, explaining: "the Horse goes sideways... Many reasons for the strangeness of the knight and main of them – the conventionality of art... the Second reason is that the horse is not free – it walks sideways because the straight road to him is prohibited."
In Berlin creates Shklovsky (in his words, dictated) the book Zoo. Letters not about love, or Third-Eloise (first. ed. – 1923), with a dedication to Elsa Triolet, with whom he was in love. Pattern Russian Berlin end with a letter addressed to the Executive Committee, with a request to let him back home. He returned to Russia in September 1923.
Settled in Moscow (sine qua non, in which he admitted to), he worked very hard, and not always in the field of art (some time is in the Flax). Published in periodicals, produces a collection About theory of prose, bringing together some old articles, written in conjunction with the Sun.Ivanov on the future of chemical warfare adventure novel in nine editions of Mustard (both 1925).
In 1926, published a book the Third factory, the final part of the autobiographical "trilogy" of Shklovsky, which also includes a Sentimental journey and Zoo. According to the author, the first factory – the family and the school, the second – OPOYAZ, the third process it "now", that is, and the Third factory of Goskino, where he works, and in a broader sense life. Here he States: "Time can't be wrong, can't be me to blame."
One after another books about modern literature, the wins and the losses of Maxim Gorky (1926), Five people familiar (1927) and Hamburg account (1928), whose name became a household word. This popular expression means the true significance of an artist (circus championship fighters acting on the orders of entrepreneurs, but once a year they gather in Hamburg tavern and fight without an audience, it is necessary "to shalturit"). During these years, Shklovsky writes intensely about cinema and for cinema. Among the works he created in collaboration or independently, the scripts for the films the wings of the slave, By law, the Traitor (1926), the Third petty-bourgeois, Potholes (both – 1927), Two armored cars, the House on Trubnaya, the Cossacks, the captain's daughter, the gadfly, the Last ride (1928).
Shklovsky's interest gradually shifted to the history of literature, as evidenced by the books Material and style in Leo Tolstoy's novel "War and peace" (1928) and Matvei Komarov, a resident of the city of Moscow (1929), dedicated to broadside a half-forgotten writer. Perfectly feels the atmosphere of the time, Shklovsky saw the time. There were articles and books, where a formal method and was subjected to harsh criticism.
27 Jan 1930 in "Literaturnaya Gazeta" published an article Shklovsky's Monument to a scientific error, perceived by many as surrender and capitulation. The condemnation of the author of the formalism and its role in it is not so much a testimony of the disappointment in the method itself, how about a not entirely successful attempt to Express loyalty (Shklovsky were the only representatives from the formal school, which was listed as "tails", in particular, and political).
Attempt to negotiate, this time with himself, the visible and the book a Chore (1930), with its pathos the daily small achievements, day-to-day literary works, and written informed Technique of the writer's craft (1927), where it proclaims the principle of "second profession" for a writer, which, according to the author, is necessary in order not to lose a sense of reality. New, compared with the previous views of Shklovsky, is realizing the place of the writer in the stream of life. It is characteristic that section of the book the Search for optimism (1931) on the suicide of Vladimir Mayakovsky, called power plants.
Shklovsky many around the country, participates in the Gorky undertakings included in the group of authors to write the history of Magnitostroy, in the autumn of 1932 sent to the white sea-Baltic canal. The main purpose of the trip is not a collection of material (although Shklovsky wrote extensive fragments of collective books 1934, dedicated to the construction), and meeting with a brother – scholar VL.B.Shklovsky (1889-1937), an active figure in iosipenko movement, who had been imprisoned and relieved of his fate. It was then that was born one of the most famous aphorisms of Shklovsky. The question accompanying security officer, as he feels here, he said, "Like a live Fox in a fur store".
The book is About Soviet prose in the light did not come out notes on the history and theory of the essay and the novel, over which long worked Shklovsky, remained not completed. He writes a literary-historical monograph Chulkov I Levshin (1933), historical and biographical books Captain Fedotov and Marco Polo (both 1936), released the collection of articles of the Journal (1939), formally similar to his original book, but lacking the inner organic integrity, memoir book About Mayakovsky (1940).
During the great Patriotic war Shklovsky is evacuated to Alma-ATA, impressions of this period partly reflected in the book of Meetings (1944). A strong, possibly irreversible shock for him was the death of his son, killed in combat a few months before the victory.
In 1949, when it was a struggle against cosmopolitanism, K. Simonov in a magazine article made a statement that the Hamburg score is a "totally bourgeois, hostile to the whole Soviet art of the book". In the postwar period, Shklovsky published little and only in periodicals. Partially rescued translation from the languages of the peoples of the Soviet Union and screenplays Alisher Navoi (1947), the Distant bride (1948), Chuk and GEK (1953), written alone or in collaboration. The book started out in the period of social changes that followed the death of Stalin. It Notes on the prose of Russian classics (first. ed. – 1953), a Tale about the artist Fedotov (1955), For and against. Notes on Dostoyevsky (1957), Historical novels and stories (1958), fiction. Reflections and critiques (Prim. ed. – 1959).
The last decade of his life, Shklovsky marked by peace and stability. He is a recognized classic of literary criticism, whose ideas entered the scientific circulation. Memoir book Zhili-byli (Prim. ed. – 1962), a biography of Leo Tolstoy (first. ed. – 1963), a collection of Over forty years. Articles on the movies (1965), two volumes of the tale of prose (1966) and literary book String. On the dissimilarity of the similar (1970) make his name popular with a wide circle of readers, without adding anything to previous scientific discoveries. Contributed to the popularity of TV serial and films were (1972), and the Word of Leo Tolstoy (1978), in fact, deployed monologues Shklovsky captured on film.
State prize of the USSR for 1979, which was awarded book of Eisenstein (first. ed. – 1973) confirmed the high official recognition of Shklovsky and the absence of claims to it from the state. He is now honorary relic, a contemporary of a bygone era – a view which he tried to refute the evidenced by the constant work. The latter, released in vivo, the book Energy of delusion (1981) and On the theory of prose (1983) is a collage of memories and literary theory, fragments of conversations "under the tape". In a recent television interview on the question of, what matters to him right now, Shklovsky said, "we can't worry. It is necessary to work".
The value of Shklovsky for Russian culture is hard to overestimate. One of the founders and Central figures of the Society for the study of poetic language (OPOYAZ), he not only brought to science a new terminology, a new approach to literary phenomena (among its most important concepts such as "material" and "admission"), prompting them to explore not the social types, or relations, as reflected in the work and his design. The language of Shklovsky sounded like blank verse, repeated by students as aphorisms ("...inheritance when changing literary schools, is not from father to son, but from uncle to nephew"). Shklovsky spoke without false modesty: "I was raised in Russia stern, being able to read it": in the books of writer-sentimentalist he discovered the innovation of a form.
As a hero or a prototype of it is present in the books of Mikhail Bulgakov's the White guard (Shpola), O. Forsh Mad ship (Eucanet), V. Kaverin Brawler, or Evenings on Vasilievsky island (Nekrylov), Sun. Ivanova Y (Andreichin). The two last authors the critical dialogue with Shklovsky lasted a lifetime, going from the pages of fiction to the pages of memoirs. You can talk about equally active, although not finished the dialogue with A. Platonov, Shklovsky who first mentioned in the Third factory, and who wrote about Shklov in critical articles and in the pamphlet Antisenses, Shklovsky, on the assumption of researchers, was the prototype Serbinova from the novel the Pit.
Pushing the notion of "literary personality", B. M. eykhenbaum was referring to Shklovsky, who himself argued in articles and books that present Shklovsky with a "literary book" Viktor Shklovsky has nothing to do.
Unique style Shklovsky spawned a number of imitators, sometimes even causing talented people to direct borrowing – K. Fedin's novel Cities and years was originally supposed to be called on the final line "nothing's over" from the book Revolution and the front, the memoir book by V. Kaverin called the Desk, the title of the second part Sentimental journey. Style Shklovsky could parodists (among the best works of parody M. Zoshchenko, A. Arkhangelsky, L. Lazareva, S. Rassadin, B. sarnov).
Shklovsky died 5 Dec 1984 in Moscow.
Writings: collected works in three volumes. M., 1973– 74 19 V. Shklovsky. Hamburg score. Articles – memories – essays (1914-1933). M., 1990
V. Shklovsky. "Nothing is over ...". M., 2002
(author - Eugene Pereyslav)
