Skaz: Difference between revisions
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'''Skaz''' ({{lang- |
'''Skaz''' ({{lang-rus|сказ|p=ˈskas}}) is a [[Russia]]n 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|coauthor=|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> This 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|url=http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3763/is_200409/ai_n11849814/?tag=content;col1|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 this time, the literary scholar described the phenomenon as a form of unmediated or improvisational speech.<ref name="RHE">{{cite encyclopedia|last=Hemenway|first=Elizabeth Jones|coauthor=|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> |
Skaz was first described by the Russian [[Formalism (literature)|formalist]] [[Boris Eikhenbaum]] in the late 1910s. In a couple of articles published at this time, the literary scholar described the phenomenon as a form of unmediated or improvisational speech.<ref name="RHE">{{cite encyclopedia|last=Hemenway|first=Elizabeth Jones|coauthor=|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> |
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Revision as of 17:55, 28 August 2017
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] This 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 this time, the literary scholar 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]
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.[7] 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.[8]
References
- ^ a b c Cornwell, Neil (2005). "Skaz Narrative". The Literary Encyclopedia. Retrieved 2009-09-06.
{{cite encyclopedia}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|coauthor=(help) - ^ "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. Retrieved 2009-09-06.
- ^ a b Hemenway, Elizabeth Jones. "Skaz". Russian History Encyclopedia. Retrieved 2009-09-06.
{{cite encyclopedia}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|coauthor=(help) - ^ Bakhtin, M., "Discourse Typology in Prose" (1929), in Readings in Russian Poetics, ed. L. Matejka and K. Pomorska (Ann Arbor, 1978), pp. 180-182.
- ^ 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
- 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 0-9812695-40.