Art as Technique

Viktor Shklorsky

in Petrograd in the early

fwentieth century
One of the founders of the Formalist study group
to move literary study out
of its most innovative thinkers. In seeking
Shklovsky was also one
and his colleagues argued
of the realm of religion and into that
of science, Shklovsky
terms. In continuing the effort
the Symbolists who conceived of poetry in spiritualist
agaimst
to exactly delineate the "literary" quality of
those devices and techniques that separates
that such devices impede
them from ordinary prose, Shklovsky argues in this essay (1916)
normal perceptions. This essay demonstrates the similarity between the formal scholarly
undertaking and the innovations in poetry that were occurring at the same time in Europe,
such as Dada. Concerned with writing that would be brutally honest and shockingly new,
these writers rejected traditional culture and traditional artistic forms that had for them
becorme both boring and overly conventional. Shklovsky, thinking along similar lines, saw
all poetry as producing a shock effect that disrupted habitual ways of
seeing and thinking.

If we start to examine the

general laws of perception, we see that as
habitual, it becomes
automatic. Thus, for example, all of our perception becomes
of the unconsciously habits retreat into the area
automatic; if one remembers the sensations of
speaking in a foreign language for the first time and holding a pen or ot
performing the action for the ten thousandth time, he compares
will
that with his feeling at
tion explains the agree with us. Such habitua-
principles by which, in ordinary
and wurds half
expressed. In this speech, we leave
b smbols Complete words arc process, ideally realized in algebra, phrases unfinished
bartly
not
expressed in rapid speech; their things are
replate
pereed. Alexander Pogodin ofters initial sounds
"Jh Sw1s iouitains beautitul" the
example of a bov
rt

his hasatfest f
are
in the
form of a series considering the senternee
tlmught not only of letters: TS, m, d. è.
prnpt l sias
(kttcrs,
suggests the method
of algebr.a, but
futhd ! thght especially eic
t Iud initial letters). By this "algebrii
do l e
then tei Culinnt: Dutsjee Ih only as shapes with
lei
ieuugnize them by heir imprecise extensions.
main characteristi
rouul vublh. aln deitt.
suys, trans laI Ina and ul A
Reprodu cd with perisn Ironia ihe PP
luhonqu*"
Ih
tiom Russluin
Lnnersity Fornaiist
Nebraska Press,Crticism:
.
a y of
Nebrask. P Cas. of Fou
Lerary Theory: An Anthulog y, 1965.
2017 John Wiley & Sons, Iad.TPublished
C, hird Fditon. Edited
2017 by by Julie Rivkin
John and
Aiichael
Wiley & Sons, Ryan.
LAd
 9
Art as Terhmiqe

it were cnveloped in a sack. We

know what it is by its
We see the objcct though
as
thus in the manner of
but we sce only its silhouette. Thc object, perceived
configuration, cven the
fades and does not leave even a first impression; ultimately
prose pereeption, we fail to hear thec
was is forgotten. Such perception explains why
essence of what it
word in its entirety (sec Leo Jakubinsky's article') and, hence, why
(along with
prose the
of the tonguc) we fail it. The proces of "algebrization,"
to pronouncc
other slips of perceptive effort.
over-utomatization of an object, permits the greatest economy
or else
a number, for cxample
-

Fither objects are assigned only one proper featurc

-

cven appcar in cognition:

they function as though by formula and do not
and couldn't remember
I was cleaning and, mcandering about, approached the divan
whether or not I had dusted it. Since these movements are habitual
and unconsciousT
had dustedit
could not remember and felt that it was impossiblc to remember so that if I
-

not. It some
and forgot that is, had acted unconsciously, then it was the same as if I had
-

conscious person had becn watching, then the fact could be established. If, however, no one
was looking, or looking on unconsciously, if the whole complex lives of many people go on

unconsciously, then such lives are as if they had never been.

And so life is reckoned as nothing. Habitualization devours work, clothes, furniture,

one's wife, and the fear of war. "If the whole complex lives of many people go on uncon-
sciously, then such lives are as if they had never been." And art exists that one may
recover the sensation of life; it exists to make one feel things, to make the stone stony.
The purpose of art is to impart the sensation of things as they are perceived and not as
make forms
they are known. The technique of art is to make objects "unfamiliar," to
the process of
difficult, to increase the difficulty and length of perccption because
perception is an aesthetic end in itself and must be prolonged. Art is a way ofexperiencing
the artfulness of an object: the object is not important...
After we see an object several times, we begin to recognize it. The object is in front of
us and we know about it, but we do not sec it- hence we cannot say anything significant
about it. Art removes objects from the automatism of perception in several ways. Here I
Want toillustrate a way used repeatedly by LeoTolstoy, that wrirer who, for Merezhkovsky
at least, scems to present things as if he himself saw them, saw them in thcir entircty, and
did not alter them.
Solstos makes the familiar seem strange by not naming the familiar object. He
describes an object as if he were sccing it for the Iirst time, an event as if it were happen-
ng for the first úme. In deseribing something he asoids the accepted names of its parts
and instead names correspond1ng parts ol other objects. For example, in "Shame"
Tolstoy "defamiliarizes" the idea ol flogging in ths Way "to strip people whu hN
broken thc law, 1 hurl them to the floor, and to rap on their buttonms w ith wuches,"
and, after a few lines, "o lash about on the iakcd butocks" "Then he remarks

prick the shoulders or ans part l the bal wnh neeslles, suquuvze the bands ur ihe tect in a
visc, or anything like than

I apologize for this harsh erample, but it s Ipiual of Tostuy' way of pricking the
consciencc. The familiar act of flogging is nade unfanniliar both by the deseription and
by the proposal to change its form without changing itsature. Tolstoy uses this technique
of defamiliarization" constantly. The narrator of "Kholstomer," for example, is a horse,
 10
Formalisms
and it is the horse's
point of view (rather than person's) that makes the content of tha
a
story seem unfamiliar. Here is how the horse regards the institution of private proner
ty
I understood well what
they said about whipping and Christianity. But then I was
in the dark. Whar's the absolutclv
meaning of "his own," "his colt"? From these phrases I saw that
people thought there was some sort of connection between me and the stable. At the
timeI
Simply could not understand the connection. Only much later, when
they separated me
from the other horses, did I
begin to understand. But evcn then I simply could not see what
it meant when
they called me "man's property." The words "my horse" referred to me, a
Iiving horse, and seemed as strange to me as the words"my land," "my air," "my water."
But the words made a
strong impression on me. I thought about them constantly, and
only after the most diversc experiences with people did I understand, finally, what
meant. They meant this: In life
they
people are guided by words, not by deeds. It's not so much
that they 1ove the possibility of
doing or not doing something as it is the possibility of
speaking with words, agreed on among themselves, about various topics. Such are the
words "my" and "mine" which they apply to different
things, creatures, objects, and even
to land, people, and horses. They agree that only one may say "mine" about this, that or the
other thing. And the onc who says "mine" about the number of
greatcst things is, according
to the game which they've agrecd to among themselves, the onc they consider the most
happy. I don't know the point of all this, but it's true. For a long time I tricd to explain it to
myself in terms of some kind of real gain, but I had to reject that explanation because it was
wrong.
Many of those, for instance, who called me their own never rode on me- although others did.
And so with those who fed me. Then again, the coachman, the veterinarians, and the outsiders
in general treated me kindly, yet those Twho called me their own did not. In due
time, having
widened the scope of my observations, I satished myself that the notion "my," not has rela
only
tion to us horses, has no other basis than a narrow human instinct which is called a sense of or
right to private property. A man Say's "this house is mine" and never lives in it; he only worrics
about its construction and upkeep. A merchant says "my shop," or "my dry goods shop," for
instance, and does not even wear clothes made from the better
cloth he keeps in his own
There arc people who call a tract of land their
shop.
own, but they never set eyes on it and
ncrer takea stroll on it. Therc are peopic who call others their
own, yet never sec them. And
the whole relationship berween them is that the s0-called "owners" treat the others unjustly.
There are people wh0 call women their own, or their "wives," but their
women live with
other men. And people strive not tor the gool in lite, but for goods
Iam now convinced that this is the essential differcnce
they can call their own.
betwecn
And thercfore, not even considering the other ways in which we are people and oursclves.
ing just this one virtue, we can bravely ciaim to stand higher than superior, but consider-
men on the ladder of
living creatures. The of
actions men, at least those with whom I have had
guided by Pords - ours by deeds. dealings, are

The horse is killed before the end ot the

story, but the manner of the narr.atite, i
technique, does not change:

Much latcr they put Serpukhovsky 's body, which

had
earen and drunk, into the ground. They could experienced the world, which h
flesh, nor his bones anywhere. profitably send neither his
hide, tu
But since his dead body,
burden to everyone, its
wen nad gone about in the world for
burial was oniy a twenty vears, was a st
lang rime no one had supertluous
embarrassment for the peoplc. i
needeu the
nim, TOr a 1ong time he had
been
theless, the dead who buried burden on all. But ne
a
dcad tound
it
necessary to dress this bloated
body. wh
 Art as Techmqne

immediately began to rot, in a gooi uniform and gond bwwfs, to lay it in a gord new cotthn
with new tasels at the four
corners, then to place this new cofin in another lead and ahp
it to Moscw, there to exhume ancicnt of
boncs and at just that spot, to hrede this putrefying
dy, swat ming with nmaggots, in its new uniform and clean
honts, and to cover if owr
completelv with dirn.

Thus we sce that at the end of thc

story Tolstoy continues the
technique
to use even
though the motivation for it (the reason for its use) is
In War and Peace gone.
Tolstoy uscs the same technique in describing whole hattles as it
battles were something ncw. Thesc
descriptions are too long to quote,
sary to extract a considcrablc part of the four-volume novel. But
it would be
Tolstoy uses thenece
same
method in dcscribing the drawing room and the theater
The middle of the
stage consistcd of flat boards; by the sides stood painted pictures repre-
Senting trecs, and at the back a linen cloth was stretchcd down to the floor boards. Maidens
in red bodices and white skirts sat on
the middle of the stage. Onc, very fat, in a white silk
dress, sat apart on a narrow bench to which a green pasteboard box was glued from behind
They were all singing something. When they had finished, the maiden in white approached
the prompter's box. A man in silk with tight-fitting pants on his fat legs approached her
with a plume and began to sing and spread his arms in dismay. The man in the tight pants
finished his song alonc, then the girl sang. After that both remained silent as the music
resounded, and the man, obviously waiting to begin singing his part with her again, began
to run his fingers over the hand of the girl in the white dress. They finished their song
together, and everyonc in the theater began to clap and shout. But the men and women on
stage, who represcnted lovcrs, started to bow, smiling and raising their hands.
In the second act were pictures representing monuments and openings in the linen cloth
representing the moonlight, and they raised lamp shades on a frame. As the musicians
started to play the bass horn and counter-bass, a large number of people in black mantels
poured onto the stage from right and left. The people, with something like daggers in their
hands, started to wave their arms. Then still more people came running out and began to
drag away the maiden who had been wearing a white dress but who now wore one of sky
blue. They did not drag her off immediately, but sang with her for a long time before
dragging her away. Three times they struck on something metallic bchind the side scenes,
and everyone got down on his knees and began to chant a prayer. Several times all of this
activity was interrupted by enthusiastic shouts from the spectators..

Anvone who knows 'Tolstoy can find several hundred such passages in his work. His
method of seeing things out of their normal context is also apparent in his last works
Tolstor described the dogmas and rituals he attacked as it they were unfamiliar,
Substituting everyday meanings for the customar1ly religious meanings of the words
Common in church ritual. Many persons were pauntully wounded; they considered it
Dasphemy to present as strange and monstrous what they accepted as sacred. Their
reaction was due chicfly 1o the technique through which Tolstoy perceiwel and reported
his environment. And after turning to what he had long avoided, Tolstoy tound that his

perceptions had unsettled his faith.

The technique of defamiliarization is not Tolstoy's alone. I cited lolstoy because his
Work is generally known.
Now, having explained the nat ure of this tiechnuqaue, let us try to determine theappro
imate limits of its application. I personally feel that delfamiliarization is kound almost
everywhere form is found... An image is not a permanent referent for those mutable
theFrenchhomosex1
Ors
wei
exampe
wer u
*

12 lrmalisns

complexities of lite which are revealed through i1, its purpose is not to makc us percei
111caning, but to create a spCC1al perceplon ol the object il ereales
nstead of serrmg asa meansfor knoning il ...
a isimn of the ahicet
Such constructions as "the pcstle and the
mortar," or "Old Nick and the infernal
regions" (Decameron) are also cxamples of the
technique of defamiliarization. And in
article on plot construction I write about defamiliarization in my

Herc, then, I repeat that the perception of psychological parallelism.

disharmony in a harmonious context is
important in parallelism. The purpose of parallelism, like the general purpose of imagery,
is to transfer the usual
pcrception of an object into the sphere of new perception that is,
to make a
unique semantic modification.
In studying poetic specch in its phonetic and lexical structure as well as in its
characteristic distribution of ords and in the characteristic thought structures
compounded from the words, we find everywherc the artistic trademark - that is, we find
material obviously created to remove the automatism of perception; the author's purpose
is to create the vision which results from that deautomatized perception. A work is created
artistically" so that its perception is impeded and the greatest possible effect is
produced through the slowness of the perception. As a result of this lingering, the object
is perceived not in its extension in
spacc, but, so to spcak, in its continuity. Thus "poetic
language" gives satisfaction. According to Aristotle, poetic language must appear strange
and wonderful; and, in fact, it is often actually foreign: the Sumerian used the
by Assyrians,
the Latin of Europe during the Middle Ages, the Arabisms of the Persians, the Old
Bulgarian of Russian literature, or the elevated, almost litcrary language of folk songs. The
common archaisms of poetic language, the intricacy of the sweet new style [dolce stil
nuoro)," the obscure style of the language
of Arnaut Daniel with the
forms mlhich make pronunciation difficult these are used in much "roughened" [harte]
the same way. L.eo
-

Jakubinsky has demonstrated the principle of phonetic "roughening" of poetic

in the particular case of the language
repetition of identical sounds. The language of poetry is,
then, a difficult, roughened, impeded language. In a few special instances the
of poctry language
approximates the language of prose, but this does not violate the principle o
roughened" form.

THer sister was called Tatyana

For the first time we shall
Wilfully brighten the delicate
Pages of a novel with such a nanme

4 Pushkin. T he usual puoclic language lor Pushkin's

f Dervhavin; but Pushkin's style, because it seemedcontemporares
Wias the cleyanu

diffn.ult lor them. We slould renember the triv ial then, was unenpiledis
consternation ot Pushkin's contenpot.
cr th ulgarity of his expressions. IHe uscd the pupular language as a speenal dtur
pulongup aticntuI1. Just his io
usually Fren speechh
Contennp»rares generallh tlsed Rus>ldn norls un that
as

(ser lolstus anples in ar dnd Piue)

Just ntow a sull nuyt thait lei>tn planuomenon is tnder
whch was trignally wa Ru»siin l1ti.t dueEA
fostipn lu Russu, has so peiiwlrd th"
has blended with thcir osesalon (u language ut tlu i s tliat it
the ulr lh.nd, httalui his e n tu siun
a
lendency toWarcs the ust l dalects (Reni/ov, Klhunes, I s , Jnd oilur,
in talent and so alike n outk u.al
language, ane uneutnallh prON ine ial) and/ ou b.ubu ii {unh
gave risc lo the Sereryanin group ). }nd tnnth Iavn Giorks Is
elangitg lus detn
 Art as Technique 13
from the old literary language to the new
and literary language have literary colloquialism of l.cskov" Ordinary speech
thereby changed places (see the work of
finally, a strong tendency, Ied by Khlebnikov, toVyacheslav
and many others). And Ivanov
create a new and
properly poetic language has emerged. In the
poctry as atlenuated, tortuous specch. Poetic
light of these
devclopments we can define
specch is
speech
cconomical, casy, proper, the goddess of formed speech. isProse is ordinary
accurate, facile type, of the "dircct" prosc [dea prosae] a goddess of the
retardation as the general law of art at cxpression of a child. I shall discuss
roughened form and
greater length in an article on plot
Ncvertheless, the position of those who urge the idea of the construction
as
something which exists in and even cconomy of artistic encrgy
glance, tenable for the distinguishes poetic language seems, at first
be absolutely incontestable:
problem rhythm. Spencer's description of rhythm would seem to

Just as the body in receiving a series of varying

to meet the most violent of concussions, must keep the muscles ready
them, knowing when such may come: so, the mind in
as not
recciving unarranged articulations, must keep its
the least casily perspectives active enough to recognize
caught
sounds. And
as, if the concussions recur in definite order, the
may husband its forces by adjustins the resistance needful for each concussion; ifbody
so, the
syllables bc rhythmically arranged, the mind may economize its
the attention energies by anticipating
required for each syllable."
This apparent observation suffers from the common
fallacy, the confusion of the laws of
poetic and prosaic language. In The Philosophy of Style Spencer failed
between them. But rhythm may have two functions. The utterly to distinguish
like "Dubinushka," permits the members of the rhythm of prose, or a work song
work crew to do their
together" and also eases the work by making it automatic. And, in fact, necessary "groaning
it is easier to march
with music than without it, and to march
dur1ng an animated conversation is even
the walking is done unconsciously. Thus the easier, for
rhythm of prose is an important automatizing
element; the rhythm of poctry is not. There is "order" in art, yet not a
Greek temple stands exactly in its proper order; single column of a
poetic rhythm is similarly disordered
rhythm. Attempts to systematize the irregularties have been made, and such
part of the current problem in the theory of rhythm. It is obvious that the
attempts are
aill not work, for in reality the problem is not one of systematization
complicating the rhythm but of disor-
Cering the rhsthm - a disordering which cannot be predicted. Should the disorderino of
ithm beCome a uonvention, it would be inettcctive as a procedure for the roughening of
auagc. But I will not discuss rhythm in more detail since I intend to write a book about it

Notes

t raticr Pgouhn, Yu:sh, kuk turheten |Lumgnage as li| (K.harkon, 1913), p 42. [The original
9 t as ilrene.h, "Je: monlugnes de la uve sonl belles," wuh the appropriate iuitials

, . ' , Jnar, cit ckattdl ebruary 2, 1891.|L he slate s ranseribrd incorrecth, it shuull

P Shi t t: I irn luet ihe Rru ic: lun ul the Hrd|(Petersburg, 1914)