Viktor Shklovsky’s Art as Technique was an extremely interesting read. Shklovsky points out that what we perceive on a daily basis often becomes habitual and thus, becomes automatic. In fact, “life is reckoned as nothing” (16) because we perceive everything so quickly to the point that we do not feel anything. I can relate this idea to basic everyday habits such as driving, locking the front door, closing the garage door or brushing one’s teeth. Such unconscious automatic actions slow down our perception of things. Although the example of driving is naturally seen as automatic, one can imagine that if all aspects of life became unconscious perceptions, life would become completely banal. This extends to literature in the sense that if everything is rendered familiar and cliché, the true art of literature can never be appreciated.

Shklovsky argues that art “may recover the sensation of life; it exists to make one feel things …” (16). He argues that this can be achieved through the concept of defamiliarization whereby objects are made “unfamiliar”, forms made difficult, and perceptions rendered difficult and lengthy (16). He further explains that the “process of perception is an aesthetic end in itself and must be prolonged” (16). In other words, it is the art that matters most and not the object itself. Shklovsky cites Tolstoy’s Kholstomer as a clear example of this. By using a narrator that is a horse, the work becomes strange and unfamiliar. The passage cited shows how the actions of men, as opposed to horses, are guided by words rather than deeds (16). Had such a message been conveyed through the eyes of a human narrator, it would have simply been classified as just another denunciation of human conventions. By using the process of defamiliarization, the work can be appreciated as a true piece of art and be removed from the ordinary and the cliché. Through art, literature can thus be revitalized while still maintaining meaning.

Shklovsky’s also explains that defamiliarization can also be achieved through the use of difficult and complex language. He cites Aristotle to emphasize that poetic language “must appear strange and wonderful” (19) and that it is often foreign. There are a plethora of examples that illustrate how language can transform a work into art such as Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales (written in Middle English) or the Fables of Jean de la Fontaine. The former is a classic of French literature, using mostly animals as a means for providing a moral lesson. Whether it is by the portrayal of unique or animal characters or the use of difficult language, defamiliarization can transform an ordinary piece of literature into a fascinating piece of art.