Codex manuscriptus Codex manuscriptus 2949-0510 2949-0502 IWL RAS https://doi.org/10.22455/CM.2949-0510-2024-5-199-221 Research Article Articles “Classics” and “Classical” in Soviet Science of Literature: Formalists and Comparativists (Side Notes) Tsyganov Dmitry M. codeximli@yandex.ru 09 07 2024 5 199 221 intellectual history classics classical literary canon OPOJAZ formalism early Soviet humanities ideology and philology Stalinist culture Viktor M. Zhirmunsky Yuri N. Tynyanov Viktor B. Shklovsky Boris M. Eichenbaum Copyright © 2026, IWL RAS 2026 This article is devoted to several specific aspects of the problem of the Soviet literary canon — the question of the semantic content of the notions of “classics” and “classical” and the ideas of “cultural inheritance” and “literary evolution” in the humanitarian thought of the 1920s. The subject of the study are the intellectual constructs of Viktor M. Zhirmunsky, Yuri N. Tynyanov, Viktor B. Shklovsky, Boris M. Eichenbaum and other early Soviet theorists, whose thinking was connected with the definition of the main parameters of not only the “former” but also the “new” culture. Through the examination of scientific-theoretical texts, taking into account the personal pragmatics of the writer and the political- ideological framework set by the authorities, we seek to discover and describe the mechanisms through which intellectual speculation was carried out that allowed the Stalinist regime to put culture at the service of its own ideological interests. The considerations contained in this article are intended, first and foremost, to shed light on the processes of redefining the “classical” literary canon that took place in the first post-revolutionary decade. Vinogradov, V.V. Stil’ Pushkina [Pushkin’s Style]. Moscow, Gosizdat Publ., 1941. 620 p. (In Russ.) Zhirmunskii, M. Voprosy teorii literatury: Stat’i 1916–1926 godov [Questions of the Theory of Literature: Articles of 1916–1926]. 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