Overview

"Theory of Prose is one of the twentieth century's most important works of literary theory. It not only anticipates structuralism and poststructuralism, but poses questions about the nature of fiction that are as provocative today as they were in the 1920s. Arguing that writers structure their materials according to artistic principals rather than from attempts to imitate ""reality,"" Shklovsky uses the works of Cervantes, Tolstoy, Sterne, Dickens, and others to give us a new way of thinking about fiction and the world."

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9780916583644

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This 1929 book by one of the founding fathers of Russian formalism is one of the most important works in the history of literary theory. -- Cho ice A rambling, digressive stylist, Shklovsky throws off brilliant apercus on every page... Like an architect's blueprint, it lays bare the joists and studs that hold up the house of fiction. -- Michael Dirda, Was hington Post Book World

This 1929 book by one of the founding fathers of Russian formalism is one of the most important works in the history of literary theory. -- Choice A rambling, digressive stylist, Shklovsky throws off brilliant apercus on every page... Like an architect's blueprint, it lays bare the joists and studs that hold up the house of fiction. -- Michael Dirda, Washington Post Book World

Author Information

Viktor Shklovsky (1893-1984) was an originator and leading theoretician of the Russian Formalist school, and was also active in films and children's literature. Several of his books are available from Dalkey Archive Press, among them Sentimental Journey, Third Factory, and Zoo, or Letters Not about Love.

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