Motalka, or Time in Chiasmus: Viktor Shklovsky’s “Revolutionary Choice of the Past”

An important part of Viktor Shklovsky’s legacy remains neglected by scholars of formalism and questioned for political reasons: his controversial critical and political interventions, as well as his work in propaganda on behalf of the Stalinist regime. Personal memories of Shkovsky and whatever is available in his publications from that period all convey a sense of compromising uncertainty. I am suggesting that his work during that period has special value, even though it arises from the shadow of a doubt that surrounds his private and public images as a Stalinist opportunist. Based on his earlier theoretical findings and his practical and critical competence in literature and film, Shklovsky found original analytical tools to reflect temporality, historical experience, and (Soviet) subjectivity under political violence. His profound critical revision of his early theoretical postulates in the light of historical experience gained during this controversial period is relevant nowadays.