Here are some discussion questions for the Shklovsky and Sinyavsky readings (to be completed for class on Thursday, July 7). Please tack yours on below!
- What does Shklovsky define as the purpose of art and the task of the artist? Against what extant definitions is he working?
- How is art a device? What does it do and how?
- Is “Pkhentz” an allegory? Of what?
- What is the role of reading, writing and words in “Pkhentz”? Mark all the places texts appear in the story.
- How might we compare the description and function of the sexual grotesque in Sinyavsky’s and Baldwin’s stories?
What is the significance of "hunchback" in "Pkhentz" and is it said as a good thing or a bad thing?
ReplyDeleteYong Yu Xie
Compare the way Jesse in “Going to Meet the Man” versus the alien in “Pkhentz” view others who are “different”. Compare their fears and their self-judgments.
ReplyDeleteYun Jeong Lee
Discuss the importance of introducing the alien and Jesse's first time of experiencing human genitalia that is different from their own (the alien's being Veronica's and Jesse's being the black man being lynched). Do the authors play on what Shklovsky terms defamiliarization when introducing the genitalia?
ReplyDeleteDo we see use of defamiliarization, a term coined by Shklovsky, in "Going to Meet the Man?" What is the purpose of doing so?
ReplyDeleteDiscuss Andrei Kazimorovich's interactions with the characters he encounters in the novel and how these interactions shape or distinguish Andrei from real human beings.
ReplyDeleteWhat is the "law of the economy of creative effort" that Shklovsky mentions, and what role does it play in "Art as a Device"?
ReplyDeleteWhat is the significance of Andrei Kazimirovich's association with cacti?
ReplyDeleteWhat is the parallel that can be drawn between the protagonist of Pkhentz and the author, Andrei Sinyavsky, himself?
ReplyDeleteHow does Shklovsky differentiate between the two types of perception, habitualized and defamiliarized? And then how does the artist defamiliarize the reader with his/her subject, and "create a special perception," as Shkolvsky says?
ReplyDeleteShklovsky defines poetic language as a way of reducing the "automatism of perception" by disrupting the normal rhythm of speech. His text provides numerous examples of defamiliarization through extending and questioning everyday, habitual concepts, but can the effect also be achieved by making concepts more minimalistic? What might be an example of this?
ReplyDeleteWhat kind of tone is used when Andrei refers to humans and their actions? (cooking, when Veronica exposes herself, his thoughts during his illness)
ReplyDeleteAre the techniques of economy of artistic energy and "drawing out" through defamiliarization mutually exclusive?
ReplyDeleteWhen describing why he hid his true nature, the alien Andrei Kazimirovich states, "How could they understand me, when I myself am quite unable to express my inhuman nature in their language." However, Kazimirovich seems to share remarkably many human characteristics considering his geographical and physical seperation from all people. In what parts of the text does Schlovsky portray the nature of the alien as more human, and where do the creature's characteristics seem more foreign?
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