The Russian Formalists

At the end of the 19th century, no institution was in charge of literary studies.

For The Formalists, a literary analysis should focus on the literary language used in the text.

“Defamiliarization” is a technique that the author uses to present common things or actions; in a strange way.

The Formalists believed that a text doesn’t have an internal mechanism prepared by the author.

The Ontological Criticism, claims that poetry reveals its true meaning through the author’s intentions and emotions.

The Formalists had the task of giving a scientific character to their literary studies