Russian formalism

E530422

20th-century literary theory formalism literary theory movement

Russian formalism was an early 20th-century literary theory movement that focused on the formal structures and devices of texts rather than their content or historical context.

Try in SPARQL Jump to: Surface forms Disambiguation Statements Elicitation Referenced by

All labels observed (3)

Label	Occurrences
Russian Formalism	2
Formalism	1
Russian formalism canonical	1

How this entity was disambiguated

This entity first appeared as the object of triple T5540243 — resolving that mention is where its identity was fixed. The disambiguator weighed these candidate entities and picked the highlighted one (or “None”, minting a new entity). This is how homonymy is resolved: the same surface form can point to different entities.

NED1 Entity disambiguation (via context triple) gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07

Target entity: Russian formalism
Context triple: [Roman Jakobson, movement, Russian formalism]

A. New Formalism
New Formalism is a mid-20th-century architectural style that revived classical principles of symmetry, monumentality, and formal composition within modernist design.
B. Bloomfieldian structuralism
Bloomfieldian structuralism is a behaviorist, empiricist approach to linguistics that analyzes language through distributional patterns of observable forms, emphasizing description over innate mental structures.
C. structuralism
Structuralism is an early school of psychology that sought to analyze the mind by breaking conscious experience down into its basic elements through systematic introspection.
D. Methods in Structural Linguistics
Methods in Structural Linguistics is a foundational 1951 work in linguistics that systematically develops the principles and procedures of structural (distributional) analysis of language.
E. Boasian linguistics
Boasian linguistics is a tradition in linguistic anthropology, founded by Franz Boas, that emphasizes detailed descriptive fieldwork, the study of indigenous languages in their cultural context, and the rejection of hierarchical or evolutionary rankings of languages.
F. None of above. chosen
G. Unsure - the case is ambiguous/there is not enough information to decide.

NED2 Entity disambiguation (via description) gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07

Target entity: Russian formalism
Target entity description: Russian formalism was an early 20th-century literary theory movement that focused on the formal structures and devices of texts rather than their content or historical context.

A. New Formalism
New Formalism is a mid-20th-century architectural style that revived classical principles of symmetry, monumentality, and formal composition within modernist design.
B. Bloomfieldian structuralism
Bloomfieldian structuralism is a behaviorist, empiricist approach to linguistics that analyzes language through distributional patterns of observable forms, emphasizing description over innate mental structures.
C. structuralism
Structuralism is an early school of psychology that sought to analyze the mind by breaking conscious experience down into its basic elements through systematic introspection.
D. Methods in Structural Linguistics
Methods in Structural Linguistics is a foundational 1951 work in linguistics that systematically develops the principles and procedures of structural (distributional) analysis of language.
E. Boasian linguistics
Boasian linguistics is a tradition in linguistic anthropology, founded by Franz Boas, that emphasizes detailed descriptive fieldwork, the study of indigenous languages in their cultural context, and the rejection of hierarchical or evolutionary rankings of languages.
F. None of above. chosen

Statements (50)

Predicate	Object
instanceOf	20th-century literary theory ⓘ formalism ⓘ literary theory movement ⓘ
associatedWithOrganization	Moscow Linguistic Circle NERFINISHED ⓘ OPOJAZ NERFINISHED ⓘ
countryOfOrigin	Russia ⓘ
developedInPeriod	1910s ⓘ 1920s ⓘ early 20th century ⓘ
emphasizes	form over content ⓘ literariness ⓘ
focusesOn	formal structures of literary texts ⓘ literary devices ⓘ poetic language ⓘ
hasKeyConcept	defamiliarization ⓘ fabula and sjuzhet distinction ⓘ foregrounding ⓘ literariness (literaturnost) ⓘ motivation of device ⓘ poetic function of language ⓘ
hasKeyWork	Art as Device NERFINISHED ⓘ Problems of Dostoevsky’s Poetics (early formalist phase) NERFINISHED ⓘ Theory of Prose NERFINISHED ⓘ
hasNotableTheorist	Boris Eikhenbaum NERFINISHED ⓘ Boris Tomashevsky NERFINISHED ⓘ Osip Brik NERFINISHED ⓘ Roman Jakobson NERFINISHED ⓘ Viktor Shklovsky NERFINISHED ⓘ Yury Tynyanov NERFINISHED ⓘ
influenced	20th-century literary theory ⓘ Czech structuralism NERFINISHED ⓘ Prague Linguistic Circle NERFINISHED ⓘ narratology ⓘ structuralism ⓘ
language	Russian ⓘ
methodologicalApproach	scientific study of literature ⓘ text-centered analysis ⓘ
opposes	biographical criticism ⓘ historical-biographical method ⓘ symbolist criticism ⓘ
originatedInCity	Moscow NERFINISHED ⓘ Saint Petersburg NERFINISHED ⓘ
rejects	psychological interpretation as primary method ⓘ reduction of literature to ideology ⓘ
studies	functions of literary devices ⓘ narrative structure ⓘ
timePeriod	Russian Empire NERFINISHED ⓘ early Soviet Union ⓘ
wasCriticizedBy	Soviet Marxist critics ⓘ
wasSuppressedIn	late 1920s ⓘ

How these facts were elicited

Referenced by (4)

Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.

Roman Jakobson → movement → Russian formalism ⓘ

Viktor Shklovsky → movement → Russian formalism ⓘ

this entity surface form: Russian Formalism

Viktor Shklovsky → movement → Russian formalism ⓘ

this entity surface form: Formalism

Language poets → influencedBy → Russian formalism ⓘ