Toward Formal Analysis of Plot Construction
О.Г. Ревзина, I. I. Revzin · Soviet Studies in Literature · 1976
Introductory remarks. The foundations of the formal theory of plot construction were laid in the writings of Russian formalists, primarily V. Shklovskii and B. Eikhenbaum. The morphological analysis of the fairy tale undertaken by V. Propp (1) was the next significant step in the construction of this theory. Propp's methods gained further development in the writings of Viacheslav Ivanov and V. Toporov, on the one hand, and of Iu. Meletinskii, S. Nekliudov, N. Novik, and D. Segal (2), on the other. In this connection a need developed and an opportunity arose for a more general and formal approach, applied to a broader class of texts. (3) In this article some examples of the application of this theory to analysis of specific material are provided.