Aleksandr E. Efimenko, PhD in Philology, Lecturer of the Faculty of the Russian Language of the Institute of Foreign Languages of Lanzhou University, South Tianshui Road, 222, 730000, Lanzhou, China. ORCID ID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1922-7833 ; E-mail: yalishanda1966@vk.com
The article aims to debunk the myth of the unity of views of Russian formalists: Y.N. Tynyanov, V.B. Shklovsky, B.V. Tomashevsky, B.M. Eikhenbaum on the story and plot. It shows the importance of introducing the terms story and plot into literary criticism by formalists and briefly describes the concepts of story and plot proposed by them. There is the difference in the understanding of the units of the story and the plot, on the one hand, by V.B. Shklovsky and B.V. Tomashevsky, on the other by B.M. Eikhenbaum. The usual usage of the terms under study in most modern literary works is characterized as paradoxical and ultimately obscuring the essence of the matter. The article points out the main mistake of most formalists and their modern followers. The solution of the problem of narrative levels and their units proposed by the narratology of G. Genette and then V.I. Tyupa allows literary theory to adequately reflect the structure of the narrative. This solution was to a certain extent anticipated by Eikhenbaum in his works, which have not lost their significance up to now.
story; plot; Russian formalists; story units; plot units; narrative levels.
05.11.2023
04.12.2023
Efimenko, A.E. “Russian Formalists about the Story and the Plot: the Imaginary Unity of Vision”. Literaturovedcheskii zhurnal, no. 1(63), 2024, pp. 152–168. (In Russ.) DOI: 10.31249/litzhur/2024.63.08
1. Aristotel’. “Poehtika” [“Poetics”]. Aristotel’. Poehtika. Ritorika [Poetics. Rhetorics], transl. from Old Greek by V. Appelrot. St Petesburg, Azbuka, Azbuka Attikus Publ., 2016, pp. 5–56. (In Russ.)
2. Benvenist, E. “Semiologiya yazyka” [“Semiology of Language”], transl. from French by Yu. N. Karaulov. Benvenist, E. Obshchaya lingvistika [General Linguistics]. Мoscow, Progress Publ., 1974, pp. 69–103. (In Russ.)
3. Veselovskii, A.N. “Poehtika syuzhetov” [“Poetics of Plots”]. Veselovskii, A.N. Istoricheskaya poehtika [Historical Poetics]. Leningrad, Khudozhestvennaya literatura Publ., 1940, pp. 493–596. (In Russ.)
4. Dal’, V.I. Tolkovyi slovar’ zhivogo velikorusskogo yazyka [Explanatory Dictionary of the Living Great Russian Language]. Vol. 4. St Petesburg, M.O. Vol’f Publ., 1882, 704 p. (In Russ.)
5. Egorov, B.F. et al. “Syuzhet i fibula” [“Plot and Story”]. Voprosy syuzhetoslozheniya [Issues of the Syuzhet Studies], ed. L.M. Tsilevich. Riga, Zinatne Publ., 1978, pp. 16–35. (In Russ.)
6. Efimenko, A.E. “A.K. Zholkovskii i Yu. K. Shcheglov: poiski porozhdeniya teksta” [“A.K. Zholkovsky and Yu. K. Shcheglov: Searching for the Text Generation”]. Professiya: literator. God rozhdeniya: 1937: kollektivnaya monografiya [Profession:
Man of Letters. Date of Birth: 1937: Collective Monograph], ed. B.P. Ivanyuk, O.K. Kramar’. Elets, Eletskii gosudarstvennyi universitet imeni I.A. Bunina Publ., 2017, pp. 163–172. (In Russ.)
7. Efimenko, A.E. “Ot sujet k syuzhetu i dalee k syuzhet” [“From ‘Sujet’ to ‘Plot’ and then to ‘Syuzhet’”]. Shagi / Steps, vol. 5, no. 2, 2019, pp. 10–35. (In Russ.) DOI: 10.22394/2412-9410-2019-5-2-10-35
8. Efimenko, A.E. Figura analepsisa i porozhdenie narratsii [The Figure of Analepsis and the Birth of Narration]. PhD in Philology Dissertation. Moscow, Rossiiskii gosudarstvennyi gumanitarnyi universitet Publ., 2022, 239 p. (In Russ.)
9. Zhenett, Zh. “Povestvovatel’nyi diskurs” [“Narrative Discours”], transl. from French by N.V. Pertsov. Zhenett, Zh. Figury [Figures]: in 2 vols. Vol. 2. Мoscow, Izdatel’stvo im. Sabashnikovykh Publ., 1998, pp. 59–280. (In Russ.)
10. Zakharov, V.N. “Istoricheskaya poehtika i ee kategorii” [“Historical Poetics and Its Categories”]. Zakharov, V.N. Problemy istoricheskoi poehtiki. Ehtnologicheskie aspekty [Problems of Historical Poetics. Ethnological Aspects]. Moscow, Indrik
Publ., 2012, pp. 6–12. (In Russ.)
11. Коzhinov, V.V. “Syuzhet, fabula, kompozitsiya” [“Plot, Story, Composition”]. Teoriya literatury. Osnovnye problemy v istoricheskom osveshchenii: [v 3 knigakh]. T. 2. Rody i zhanry literatury [Theory of Literature. The Main Issues in the Historical Aspect: [in 3 books]. Vol. 2. Categories of Poetry and Literature Genres], eds. G.L. Abramovitch et al., Мoscow, Nauka Publ., 1964, pp. 408–485. (In Russ.)
12. Lotman, Yu. M. Struktura khudozhestvennogo texta [Structure of the Fictional Text]. Мoscow, Iskusstvo Publ., 1970, 384 p. (In Russ.)
13. Lyamina, Yu. V. “Fabula: opyt problematizatsii” [“Plot: experience of problematization”]. Vestnik Samarskogo gosudarstvennogo universiteta. Gumanitarnyi vypusk, no. 3(25), 2002, pp. 78–89. (In Russ.)
14. Maslov, E.S. “Vremya v narrative: ‘fabula – syuzhet’ i ‘istoriya – diskurs’ vs semioticheskii treugol’nik” [“Time in Narrative: ‘Fabula – Plot’ and ‘Story – Discours’ vs Semiotic Triangle”]. Studia Litterarum, vol. 8, no. 3, 2023, pp. 10–27. (In Russ.) DOI: 10.22455/2500-4247-2023-8-3-10-27
15. Makhov, A.E. “Srednevekovaya latinskaya poehtika” [“Medieval Latin Poetics”]. Evropeiskaya poehtika ot antichnosti do ehpokhi Prosveshcheniya: Ehntsiklopedicheskii putevoditel' [European Poetics from Antiquity to the Enlightenment: An Encyclopedic Guide], ed. E.A. Tsurganova and A.E. Makhov. Moscow, Izdatel’stvo
Kulaginoi – Intrada Publ., 2010, pp. 87–112. (In Russ.)
16. Pospelov, G.N. “Syuzhet” [“Plot”]. Literaturnyi ehntsiklopedicheskii slovar’ [Literary Encyclopedic Dictionary], eds. V. Kozhevnikov, P. Nikolaev. Мoscow, Sovetskaya ehntsiklopediya Publ., 1987, p. 431. (In Russ.)
17. Prokopovich, F. “O poehticheskom iskusstve” [“About Poetic Art”]. Khrestomatiya po teorii literatury [Anthology on the Theory of Literature], ed. L.N. Os’makova. Moscow, Prosveshchenie Publ., 1982, pp. 182–191. (In Russ.)
18. Romanova, G.I., Tyshkovska-Kaspshak, E.L. “Tolstoi i formalisty o syuzhete” [“Tolstoy and the Formalists about the Plot”]. Novyi filologicheskii vestnik, no. 3(58), 2021, pp. 52–64. (In Russ.)
19. Serman, I.Z. “Ocharovannyi strannik” [“The Enchanted Wanderer”], [notes]. Leskov, N.S. Sobranie sochinenii [Collected Works]: in 11 vols, vol. 4. Moscow, Gosudarstvennoe izdatel’stvo khudozhestvennoi literatury Publ., 1957, pp. 551–553.
(In Russ.)
20. Sukhikh, I.N. Teoriya literatury. Prakticheskaya poehtika [Theory of Literature. Practical Poetics]. St Petersburg, Filologicheskii Fakul’tet SPGU Publ., 2014, 352 p. (In Russ.)
21. Тomashevskii, B.V. Teoriya literatury. Poehtika. [Theory of Literature. Poetics]. Мoscow, Aspekt Press Publ., 1996, 335 p. (In Russ.)
22. Trifazhenkova, I.A. “Roman v russkoi literature 1830–1840 gg.: k materialam slovarya fililogicheskikh terminov V.G. Belinskogo” [“Novel in 1830–1840 Russian Literature: Supplements to the Materials of the Dictionary of Philological Terms by V.G. Belinskii”]. Voprosy literaturovedeniya i yazykoznaniya [Issues of the literary criticism and linguistics], Tver’, Slavyanskii mir Publ., 2006,
pp. 116–132. (In Russ.)
23. Tynyanov, Yu. N. “Illyustratsii” [“Illustrations”]. Tynyanov, Yu. N. Poehtika. Istoriya literatury. Kino [Poetics. The History of Literature. Cinema], ed. V.A. Kaverin and A.S. Myasnikov. Moscow, Nauka Publ., 1977, pp. 310–318. (In Russ.)
24. Tynyanov, Yu. N. “O syuzhete i fabule v kino” [“About the Plot and Story in the Cinema”]. Tynyanov, Yu. N. Poehtika. Istoriya literatury. Kino [Poetics. The History of Literature. Cinema], ed. V.A. Kaverin and A.S. Myasnikov. Moscow, Nauka Publ., 1977, pp. 324–325. (In Russ.)
25. Tyupa, V.I. Analiz khudozhestvennogo texta [Analysis of the Fictional Text]. Мoscow, Izdatel’skii tsentr “Akademiya” Publ., 2009. 336 p. (In Russ.)
26. Tyupa, V.I. Lektsii po neklassicheskoi narratologii [Lectures on Non-classical Narratology]. Torun, Wydawnictwo Naukowe Universytetu Mikolaya Kopеrnika Publ., 2018, 194 p. (In Russ.)
27. Tyupa, V.I. “Bakhtin i narratologiya” [“Bakhtin and Narratology”]. Literaturovedcheskii zhurnal, no. 4(54), 2021, pp. 120–133. (In Russ.) DOI: 10.31249/ litzhur/2021.54.07
28. Khalizev, V.E. Teoriya literatury: uchebnik [Theory of Literature: Textbook]. Moscow, Vysshaya shkola Publ., 2004, 405 p. (In Russ.)
29. Chudakov, A.P. Poehtika Chekhova [Chekhov’s Poetics]. Moscow, Nauka Publ., 1971, 292 p. (In Russ.)
30. Shklovskii, V.B. “Svyaz’ priemov syuzhetoslozheniya s obshchimi priemami stilya” [“The Connection of Plot Composition Techniques with General Style Techniques”]. Shklovskii, V.B. O teorii prozy [On the Theory of Prose]. Moscow, Federatsiya Publ., 1929, pp. 24–67. (In Russ.)
31. Shklovskii, V.B. “Parodiinyi roman” [“A Parody Novel”]. Shklovskii, V.B. O teorii prozy [On the Theory of Prose]. Moscow, Federatsiya Publ., 1929, pp. 177–204. (In Russ.)
32. Shmid, V. Narratologiya [Narratology]. Moscow, Yazyki slavyanskoi kul’tury Publ., 2003, 312 p. (In Russ.)
33. Shcheglov, Yu. K. “K tipologii novellisticheskogo debyuta” [“On the Typology of a Novelistic Debut”]. Shcheglov, Yu. K. Izbrannye trudy [Selected Works], eds. A.K. Zholkovskii, V.A. Shcheglova. Moscow, Rossiiskii gosudarstvennyi gumanitarnyi universitet Publ., 2013, p. 114–132. (In Russ.)
34. Ehikhenbaum, B.M. “Molodoi Tolstoi” [“Young Tolstoy”]. Ehikhenbaum, B.M. O literature: raboty raznykh let [On Literature: Works of Different Years]. Мoscow, Sovetskii pisatel’ Publ., 1987, pp. 33–138. (In Russ.)
35. Ehikhenbaum, B.M. “Teoriya ‘formal’nogo metoda’” [“Theory of the ‘Formal Method’”]. Ehikhenbaum, B.M. O literature: raboty raznykh let [On Literature: Works of Different Years]. Мoscow, Sovetskii pisatel’ Publ., 1987, pp. 375–408. (In Russ.)
36. Ehrlikh, V. Russkii formalizm: istoriya i teoriya [Russian Formalism: History and Theory], transl. from English by A.V. Glebovskaya, St Petersburg, “Akademicheskii proekt” Publ., 1996, 352 p. (In Russ.)
37. Yurchenko, T.G. “Problema fabuly i syuzheta v sovremennom literaturovedenii (Svodnyi referat)” [“The Problem of Story and Plot in Modern Literary Studies (Summary Abstract)”]. Sotsial’nye i gumanitarnye nauki. Otechestvennaya i zarubezhnaya literatura. Seriya 7: Literaturovedenie, no. 3, 2020, pp. 12–18. (In Russ.)
38. Todorov, Tzvetan. “Présentation”. Théorie de la littérature. Textes des formalistes russes réunis, présentés et traduits par T. Todorov. Paris, Editions du Seuil, coll. “Tel Quel”, 1965, pp. 15–27. (In French)