Галин Тиханов

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.

В статията се предлага генеалогия на дискурсите за изгнание и се разглежда тяхната връзка с космополитизма. Основният въпрос, който си задава авторът, е какво е специфичното място на дискурсите за изгнанието в модерността и как те се съотнасят с либералното разбиране за космополитизма. Тъкмо това либерално разбиране се проблематизира и преоценява.

This article reflects upon world literature as a socio-cultural construct behind which one can discern particular historical dynamics and tensions. The first part seeks to locate the Anglo-Saxon discourse of world literature vis-à-vis three major reference points: time, space, and language. This chronotopic interrogation allows me to identify focal points of dissent from the currently prevalent liberal mobilisations of 'world literature'. The second part of the article is attempts to locate world literature on the level of literature's self-reflexivity. This is a specific meta-location of world literature which I examine through close attention to a 1930s novel. This enables me to think about dissent as a meta-reflexive position, from which literature itself skeptically relates to the notion of 'world literature'.