Article
Mukařovský, Jan (1891–1975) By Norris, Christopher
Article
Czech linguist and literary theorist Jan Mukařovský was a leading member of the Prague Linguistic Circle and a prominent contributor to the project of structuralist poetics. Building on ideas first developed by the Russian formalist school, Mukařovský set out to analyse the characteristic features – or devices – that typified literary (especially poetic) language, as opposed to prosaic or quotidian discourse. Like his colleague Roman Jakobson (1896–1982) he sought to specify just how it was that poetry and art required or encouraged the reader/viewer to focus on just those distinctive traits that marked the aesthetic function in its various manifestations.