Политиката на отстранението: случаят с ранния Шкловски

I discuss here Shklovsky's theory of estrangement formulated in a number of texts written before the October Revolution of 1917. The concept of estrangement can only be grasped if the early Shklovsky is placed in his proper context, that of World War I; we need to begin to see him as an author shaped by the War and participating in the larger constellation of brilliant European essayists who responded to this momentous event. To this end, the article draws parallels between his writings and those of Ernst Juünger and Georg Simmel. More importantly, it uncovers the conservative aspects of Shklovsky's theory of estrangement and analyses his contradictory attitude to democracy and modernisation. The final section traces the fortunes of Shklovsky's concept of estrangement at the hands of its most significant critics, Brecht and Marcuse.