"Art as Device" and "Pkhentz" Discussion Questions

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?