Fabula and Sjuzhet in Formalist

Narratology
 Russian Formalism (1910 – 1930)

literary movement developed in Russia in the

early 20th century.
these critics focused on poetic techniques,
language, and the structure of literature as an
attempt of making the study of literature
more scientific.
they focused on the text, giving less attention
to authorial intent
Fabula and Sjuzhet = central
concepts used by the formalists in
narrative analysis
Developed by:
Viktor Shklovski (the first to draw
the opposition fabula vs sjuzhet)
Boris Tomashevski
Iuri Tynianov (more complex /
dynamic approach)
 Victor Shklovski‘ Approach
Fabula = the story told vs. Sjuzhet = the way in which that
story is actually narrated
*This distinction is especially useful for thinking about
crime fiction, which relies on the disjunction between the
events as they must have happened (fabula) and the
order in which they are discovered or narrated (sjužhet).

=> the uttered world ≠ universe of utterance

! Creative choices in crafting the sjuzhet => influences
the reader’s interpretation of the fabula + reader’s
perception of cause and effect

!The sjuzhet allows for satisfactory moments of

discovery, and can build suspense or relieve it.
Tomashevski, Tynianov‘s Approach

Fabula in Tomashevski or Tynianov

= element of the reader's experience of the work
≠ a material used by the author.
=> for the first time these critics define the structure of a
narrative work of art as a tension between fabula and
siuzhet.

For Tomashevski, the reader receives the sjuzhet and then

reconstructs the fabula => he de-constructs the
construction of the work as a necessary step in the
understanding
For Shklovski, structure meant sjuzhet, the existing arrangement
between the elements of the work.
Vs.
For Tomashevski and Tynianov, the structure of the work
involves both the existing arrangement (sjuzhet) and its absent
counterpart, fabula, which is used by the reader as a principle in
interpreting sjuzhet.
For Tynianov fabula and sjuzhet are constructed by
the reader as the reading process goes along, in
perpetual reference to each other.

!!! None can exist without the other; both can

progress only through their interaction in the
reader's mind. => if fabula is the product of the
reader's construction, it is not enough to define it as
the bare schematic skeleton of action.