Outline Introduction Definition of Formalism - As a School of Literary Criticism - As a Theory How the Movement Came to Be The Leaders of Formalism Formalism vs. Marxism Characteristics of Formalism - Primary Areas of Study - Form and Unity - Diction - Incongruities and Inconsistencies Essential Questions for a Formalist Reading Introduction All literary theories have a task of defining what literature is and how it should be studied. As part of this work, literary theorists are concerned with answering a number of questions, among them: 1. What are the respective roles of the author and the reader? 2. To what degree, if at all, should an author's life or the historical moment in which a literary work was written be a relevant variable in the analysis and exegesis of the work? 3. What characteristics of a text should be considered most salient in arriving at an interpretation of its meaning? As a School of Literary Criticism Formalism is a school of literary criticism having mainly to do with structural purposes of a particular text. It is the study of a text without taking into account any outside influence. Formalism rejects (or sometimes simply "brackets," i.e., ignores for the purpose of analysis) notions of culture or societal influence, authorship, and content, and instead focuses on modes, genres, discourse, and forms. As a Theory In literary theory, formalism refers to critical approaches that analyze, interpret, or evaluate the inherent features of a text. These features include not only grammar and syntax but also literary devices such as meter and tropes. The formalist approach reduces the importance of a text's historical, biographical, and cultural context. The difference between Marxism and Formalism is that the Formalists don't agree with the idea that the theory of literature should be connected or should have something in common or to write about experience or value and its doesn't have to deal