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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 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>
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>


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]&ndash;20|chapter=Teenage Skaz|isbn=0-14-017492-3}}</ref> [[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|date=2006-11-18|work=[[The Guardian]]|accessdate=2009-09-06}}</ref>
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]&ndash;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|date=2006-11-18|work=[[The Guardian]]|accessdate=2009-09-06}}</ref>


==References==
==References==

Revision as of 01:02, 7 July 2021

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]

References

  1. ^ a b c Cornwell, Neil (2005). "Skaz Narrative". The Literary Encyclopedia. Retrieved 2009-09-06.
  2. ^ "skaz". Britannica Online Encyclopedia. Britannica. Retrieved 2009-09-06.
  3. ^ Peter J. Potichnyj, ed. (1988). The Soviet Union: Party and Society. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp. 108–9. ISBN 0-521-34460-3.
  4. ^ 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.
  5. ^ a b Hemenway, Elizabeth Jones. "Skaz". Russian History Encyclopedia. Retrieved 2009-09-06.
  6. ^ Bakhtin, M., "Discourse Typology in Prose" (1929), in Readings in Russian Poetics, ed. L. Matejka and K. Pomorska (Ann Arbor, 1978), pp. 180-182.
  7. ^ Bakhtin, Mikhail (1984). Problems of Dostoevsky's Poetics. University of Minnesota Press. p. 194.
  8. ^ 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.
  9. ^ Mullan, John (2006-11-18). "Talk this way". The Guardian. Retrieved 2009-09-06.

Further reading