Defamiliarization is a literary technique that makes ordinary things feel strange so you notice them again. In Intro to Literary Theory, it is tied to Russian Formalism and Viktor Shklovsky.
Defamiliarization is the technique of making something familiar seem unfamiliar so a reader has to see it with fresh attention. In Intro to Literary Theory, it usually comes up through Russian Formalism, especially Viktor Shklovsky's argument that art should interrupt automatic perception.
The basic idea is simple: when you see the same object, action, or feeling every day, your mind starts to skim past it. Literature can break that habit by describing the ordinary in an unusual way, changing the point of view, or using language that slows you down. That pause is the whole point. The text is not just telling you what something is, it is making you notice how you normally stop noticing it.
A common way to explain defamiliarization is with a plain object like a chair, a street, or a hand. A realistic description tells you what it is. A defamiliarized description might make the chair seem like a resting place for tired bodies, a machine for sitting, or a rigid shape that controls posture. The object itself has not changed, but your perception of it has. That shift is what Formalists cared about.
This concept is not the same as just being poetic or weird for its own sake. Defamiliarization has a purpose. It pushes against automatic reading and against the idea that literature only matters because of its moral lesson, author's biography, or historical background. Russian Formalists wanted to know what makes literary language distinct, and defamiliarization was one answer: literature renews perception by slowing language down and making form noticeable.
You can see it through unusual metaphors, fractured narration, odd syntax, or descriptions that refuse the normal label first. When a text forces you to work a little harder, it may be creating defamiliarization. That is why the term sits so naturally next to concepts like foregrounding and literariness in this course.
Defamiliarization matters in Intro to Literary Theory because it gives you a way to talk about how literature changes perception, not just what a text says. Russian Formalism often asks what makes a text literary, and this concept is one of the clearest answers: literature makes language noticeable by resisting habit.
That makes the term useful in close reading. If a passage feels strange, slowed down, or unusually vivid, you can explain how the form itself affects meaning. Instead of saying only that a metaphor is interesting, you can describe how the language disrupts automatic seeing and turns a common object into something worth reexamining.
It also helps you separate formalist analysis from other approaches in the course. A Marxist reading might focus on class relations, while a psychoanalytic reading might focus on desire or repression. A formalist reading asks how the text works as language, and defamiliarization gives you vocabulary for that mechanism.
This is especially helpful with modernist and experimental writing, where unfamiliar structure is often part of the point. If a story uses odd imagery, abrupt shifts, or an unexpected narrator, defamiliarization helps you explain why the text feels different from everyday speech and why that difference matters.
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view galleryRussian Formalism
Defamiliarization is one of the central ideas associated with Russian Formalism. The movement wanted to study what makes literature literary, and this concept explains how art separates itself from everyday language by making perception less automatic. If you are identifying formalist ideas in a reading, defamiliarization is often one of the first terms to mention.
Estrangement Effect
Estrangement Effect is closely related to defamiliarization because both describe a text's power to make the familiar feel strange. In many classes, the two terms are used almost interchangeably, but estrangement can sound broader, while defamiliarization is more tied to Russian Formalist theory and the mechanics of literary language.
Foregrounding
Foregrounding is what happens when a text makes language itself stand out, instead of letting it disappear into the background. Defamiliarization often works through foregrounding, since unusual diction, syntax, or imagery draws your attention to the form of the text. One concept describes the effect on perception, the other describes the stylistic move that creates it.
Literariness
Literariness is the quality that makes a text feel specifically literary rather than merely functional. Defamiliarization helps formalists explain literariness because it shows how literary language resists ordinary communication. If a passage feels crafted, slowed down, or surprising, you may be seeing literariness through defamiliarization.
A quiz question or passage-analysis prompt may ask you to identify a moment where the text makes something ordinary feel newly visible. Your job is to point to the language, not just say that it is "weird." Explain how the description, metaphor, syntax, or narration slows down perception and changes the reader's attention.
In a short response or essay paragraph, connect that effect to Russian Formalism. You might say that the passage defamiliarizes an everyday object, making the reader notice the object, the language, or both. If you are given an excerpt, underline the exact wording that creates the effect and describe the shift in perception it causes.
If the question compares theories, use defamiliarization to show the formalist side of the argument. You are not mainly discussing theme, author biography, or historical context here. You are showing how the text's form makes the familiar strange.
These terms are often mixed up because both describe making something feel strange. Defamiliarization is the more specific Russian Formalist term, especially linked to Shklovsky, while estrangement effect can be used more broadly for any literary or theatrical distancing. If your class uses both, defamiliarization usually names the technique and estrangement names the reader's experience.
Defamiliarization makes ordinary things seem strange so you notice them again instead of reading on autopilot.
In Intro to Literary Theory, the term is tied most strongly to Russian Formalism and Viktor Shklovsky.
The effect can come from unusual imagery, syntax, narration, or metaphor that interrupts normal perception.
Defamiliarization is about form and perception, not just about being creative or abstract.
When you analyze it, explain the exact language that changes how the reader sees the object or scene.
Defamiliarization is a technique that makes a familiar object, action, or idea feel new and strange. In Intro to Literary Theory, it is usually discussed through Russian Formalism and Viktor Shklovsky's idea that literature interrupts automatic perception. The point is to make you see ordinary things more consciously.
They overlap a lot, which is why people confuse them. Defamiliarization is the more specific Russian Formalist term for making the familiar seem strange through literary form, while estrangement effect is a broader label for that distancing effect. If your professor is being precise, defamiliarization usually points to the technique and its theory.
An author might describe a house, a body part, or a city street in a way that avoids the usual name-first description. Instead of saying what the thing simply is, the text may present it through unexpected metaphors, strange syntax, or a new point of view. That shift forces you to slow down and notice the object again.
Look for language that makes a common thing feel unfamiliar or newly visible. Unusual comparisons, odd sentence structure, and delayed naming are all clues. In a response, point to the exact words and explain how they change the reader's perception rather than just calling them stylistic.