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'''Skaz''' ({{lang-rus|сказ|p=ˈskas}}) is a |
'''Skaz''' ({{lang-rus|сказ|p=ˈskas}}) is a Russian oral form of narrative. The word comes from ''[[wikt:сказать#Russian|skazátʹ]]'', "to tell", and is also related to such words as ''rasskaz'', "short story" and ''skazka'', "fairy tale".<ref name="LE">{{cite encyclopedia|last=Cornwell|first=Neil|authorlink=|title=Skaz Narrative|encyclopedia=[[The Literary Encyclopedia]]|publisher=|location=|year=2005|url=https://www.litencyc.com/php/stopics.php?rec=true&UID=1561|accessdate=2009-09-06}}</ref> The speech makes use of dialect and slang in order to take on the persona of a particular [[Character (arts)|character]].<ref name="EB">{{cite encyclopedia|last=|first=|authorlink=|title=skaz|encyclopedia=Britannica Online Encyclopedia|publisher=Britannica|location=|year=|url=http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/547338/skaz|accessdate=2009-09-06}}</ref> The peculiar speech, however, is integrated into the surrounding narrative, and not presented in [[quotation marks]].<ref name="Potichnyj">{{cite book|title=The Soviet Union: Party and Society|editor=Peter J. Potichnyj|publisher=Cambridge University Press|location=Cambridge|year=1988|pages=108–9|isbn=0-521-34460-3|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HOl-SqBouGIC&pg=PA107}}</ref> Skaz is not only a [[literary device]], but is also used as an element in Russian monologue comedy.<ref name="CSP">{{cite journal|last=Mesropova|first=Olga|year=2004|title=Between Literary and Subliterary Paradigms: Skaz and Contemporary Russian Estrada Comedy|journal=Canadian Slavonic Papers|volume=46|issue=3–4|pages=417–434|doi=10.1080/00085006.2004.11092367|s2cid=194082040|url=https://dx.doi.org/10.1080%2F00085006.2004.11092367|accessdate=2009-09-06}}</ref> |
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Skaz was first described by the Russian [[Formalism (literature)|formalist]] [[Boris Eikhenbaum]] in the late 1910s. In a couple of articles published at |
Skaz was first described by the Russian [[Formalism (literature)|formalist]] [[Boris Eikhenbaum]] in the late 1910s. In a couple of articles published at the time, Eikhenbaum described the phenomenon as a form of unmediated or improvisational speech.<ref name="RHE">{{cite encyclopedia|last=Hemenway|first=Elizabeth Jones|authorlink=|title=Skaz|encyclopedia=Russian History Encyclopedia|publisher=|location=|year=|url=http://www.answers.com/topic/skaz|accessdate=2009-09-06}}</ref> He applied it specifically to [[Nikolai Gogol]]'s short story ''[[The Overcoat]]'', in a 1919 essay titled ''How Gogol's "Overcoat" Is Made''.<ref name="LE"/> Eikhenbaum saw skaz as central to Russian culture, and believed that a national literature could not develop without a strong attachment to oral traditions.<ref name="CSP"/> Among the literary critics who elaborated on this theory in the 1920s were [[Yury Tynyanov]], [[Viktor Vinogradov]], and [[Mikhail Bakhtin]].<ref name="RHE"/> The latter insists on the importance of skaz in stylization,<ref>Bakhtin, M., "Discourse Typology in Prose" (1929), in ''Readings in Russian Poetics'', ed. L. Matejka and K. Pomorska (Ann Arbor, 1978), pp. 180-182.</ref> and distinguishes between skaz as a simple form of objectified discourse (as found in [[Turgenev]] or Leskov), and double-voiced skaz, where an author's parodistic intention is evident (as found in Gogol or Dostoevsky).<ref>{{cite book |last1=Bakhtin |first1=Mikhail |title=[[Problems of Dostoevsky's Poetics]]|date=1984 |publisher=University of Minnesota Press |page=194}}</ref> |
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In the nineteenth century, the style was most prominently used by [[Nikolai Leskov]], in addition to Gogol. Twentieth-century proponents include [[Aleksey Remizov]], [[Mikhail Zoshchenko]], [[Andrei Platonov]], and [[Isaac Babel]].<ref name="LE"/> The term is also used to describe elements in the literature of other countries; in recent times it has been popularised by the [[United Kingdom|British]] author and literary critic [[David Lodge (author)|David Lodge]].<ref name="Lodge">{{cite book|last=Lodge|first=David| |
In the nineteenth century, the style was most prominently used by [[Nikolai Leskov]], in addition to Gogol. Twentieth-century proponents include [[Aleksey Remizov]], [[Mikhail Zoshchenko]], [[Andrei Platonov]], and [[Isaac Babel]].<ref name="LE"/> The term is also used to describe elements in the literature of other countries; in recent times it has been popularised by the [[United Kingdom|British]] author and literary critic [[David Lodge (author)|David Lodge]].<ref name="Lodge">{{cite book|last=Lodge|first=David|author-link=David Lodge (author)|title=The Art of Fiction: Illustrated from Classic and Modern Texts|url=https://archive.org/details/artfictionillust00lodg|url-access=limited|publisher=Penguin|location=London|year=1992|pages=[https://archive.org/details/artfictionillust00lodg/page/n32 17]–20|chapter=Teenage Skaz|isbn=0-14-017492-3}}</ref> [[John Mullan (academic)|John Mullan]], a professor of English at [[University College London]], finds examples of skaz in [[J. D. Salinger]]'s ''[[The Catcher in the Rye]]'' and [[DBC Pierre]]'s ''[[Vernon God Little]]''.<ref name="Mullan">{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2006/nov/18/featuresreviews.guardianreview17|title=Talk this way|last=Mullan|first=John|author-link=John Mullan (academic)|date=2006-11-18|work=[[The Guardian]]|accessdate=2009-09-06}}</ref> |
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==See also== |
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*[[Gawęda]], Polish oral tradition |
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*[[Saga]] |
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==References== |
==References== |
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==Further reading== |
==Further reading== |
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*{{cite book|last=Hicks|first=Jeremy Guy|title=Mikhail Zoshchenko and the Poetics of Skaz|publisher=Astra|location=Nottingham|year=2000|isbn=0-946134-61-8|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=n3OAAAAAIAAJ}} |
*{{cite book|last=Hicks|first=Jeremy Guy|title=Mikhail Zoshchenko and the Poetics of Skaz|publisher=Astra|location=Nottingham|year=2000|isbn=0-946134-61-8|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=n3OAAAAAIAAJ}} |
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*{{cite book|title=Handbook of Russian Literature|editor=Victor Terras|publisher=Yale University Press|location=New Haven, London|year=1985|isbn=0-300-03155-6}} |
*{{cite book|title=Handbook of Russian Literature|editor=Victor Terras|publisher=Yale University Press|location=New Haven, London|year=1985|isbn=0-300-03155-6|url=https://archive.org/details/handbookofrussia00terr}} |
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*{{cite book|title=Skaz: Masters of Russian Storytelling|editor=Danielle Jones|publisher=Translit Publishing|location=Canada|year=2015|isbn=0-9812695- |
*{{cite book|title=Skaz: Masters of Russian Storytelling|editor=Danielle Jones|publisher=Translit Publishing|location=Canada|year=2015|isbn=978-0-9812695-42|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gAj1BgAAQBAJ}} |
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{{Authority control}} |
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[[Category:Literary terminology]] |
[[Category:Literary terminology]] |
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[[Category:Russian literature]] |
[[Category:Russian literature]] |
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[[Category:Oral literature]] |
Latest revision as of 17:22, 6 June 2024
Skaz (Russian: сказ, IPA: [ˈskas]) is a Russian oral form of narrative. The word comes from skazátʹ, "to tell", and is also related to such words as rasskaz, "short story" and skazka, "fairy tale".[1] The speech makes use of dialect and slang in order to take on the persona of a particular character.[2] The peculiar speech, however, is integrated into the surrounding narrative, and not presented in quotation marks.[3] Skaz is not only a literary device, but is also used as an element in Russian monologue comedy.[4]
Skaz was first described by the Russian formalist Boris Eikhenbaum in the late 1910s. In a couple of articles published at the time, Eikhenbaum described the phenomenon as a form of unmediated or improvisational speech.[5] He applied it specifically to Nikolai Gogol's short story The Overcoat, in a 1919 essay titled How Gogol's "Overcoat" Is Made.[1] Eikhenbaum saw skaz as central to Russian culture, and believed that a national literature could not develop without a strong attachment to oral traditions.[4] Among the literary critics who elaborated on this theory in the 1920s were Yury Tynyanov, Viktor Vinogradov, and Mikhail Bakhtin.[5] The latter insists on the importance of skaz in stylization,[6] and distinguishes between skaz as a simple form of objectified discourse (as found in Turgenev or Leskov), and double-voiced skaz, where an author's parodistic intention is evident (as found in Gogol or Dostoevsky).[7]
In the nineteenth century, the style was most prominently used by Nikolai Leskov, in addition to Gogol. Twentieth-century proponents include Aleksey Remizov, Mikhail Zoshchenko, Andrei Platonov, and Isaac Babel.[1] The term is also used to describe elements in the literature of other countries; in recent times it has been popularised by the British author and literary critic David Lodge.[8] John Mullan, a professor of English at University College London, finds examples of skaz in J. D. Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye and DBC Pierre's Vernon God Little.[9]
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ a b c Cornwell, Neil (2005). "Skaz Narrative". The Literary Encyclopedia. Retrieved 2009-09-06.
- ^ "skaz". Britannica Online Encyclopedia. Britannica. Retrieved 2009-09-06.
- ^ Peter J. Potichnyj, ed. (1988). The Soviet Union: Party and Society. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp. 108–9. ISBN 0-521-34460-3.
- ^ a b Mesropova, Olga (2004). "Between Literary and Subliterary Paradigms: Skaz and Contemporary Russian Estrada Comedy". Canadian Slavonic Papers. 46 (3–4): 417–434. doi:10.1080/00085006.2004.11092367. S2CID 194082040. Retrieved 2009-09-06.
- ^ a b Hemenway, Elizabeth Jones. "Skaz". Russian History Encyclopedia. Retrieved 2009-09-06.
- ^ Bakhtin, M., "Discourse Typology in Prose" (1929), in Readings in Russian Poetics, ed. L. Matejka and K. Pomorska (Ann Arbor, 1978), pp. 180-182.
- ^ Bakhtin, Mikhail (1984). Problems of Dostoevsky's Poetics. University of Minnesota Press. p. 194.
- ^ Lodge, David (1992). "Teenage Skaz". The Art of Fiction: Illustrated from Classic and Modern Texts. London: Penguin. pp. 17–20. ISBN 0-14-017492-3.
- ^ Mullan, John (2006-11-18). "Talk this way". The Guardian. Retrieved 2009-09-06.
Further reading
[edit]- Hicks, Jeremy Guy (2000). Mikhail Zoshchenko and the Poetics of Skaz. Nottingham: Astra. ISBN 0-946134-61-8.
- Victor Terras, ed. (1985). Handbook of Russian Literature. New Haven, London: Yale University Press. ISBN 0-300-03155-6.
- Danielle Jones, ed. (2015). Skaz: Masters of Russian Storytelling. Canada: Translit Publishing. ISBN 978-0-9812695-42.