Bergson's influence on the theory and fiction of Yu. Tynianov

This article opens another philosophical source that has influenced the theory of formal school. It is the vitalism conception of Henri Bergson. It was widely known and discussed in Russia at the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century. Bergson's influence on the literature theory of V. Shklovsky, B. Eichenbaum and Yu. Tynianov was shown by the writers like J. Curtis and J. Levchenko. My aim was to observe how Yury Tynianov's acknowledgement of Bergson's philosophy had an effect on his artistic works. It is a fixed fact that Tynianov's experimental prose and scientific theory are closely connected (A. Blumbaum, M. Yampolsky). The intersection of interests of both scientists, the Russian and the French, is the idea of duration and limitation of human perception that does not allow the world to be perceived in its continuity. Bergson uses a metaphor of cinematography, which captures separate moments of reality - shots - to illustrate the mechanism of human perception. The later novels of Tynianov (mind his interest in the cinema) often invoke analogies with cinema and texts of screenplays. Proximity to cinematography becomes apparent when we see the characters' perception of reality. The narration splits into short phrases introducing different objects individually and focusing on every single thing. The use of the method similar to a close-up of a movie deserves special attention. Like in the movies events lose their temporal correlation at these moments - they seem to exist out of time. The most significant example of using a close-up is a fragment of the story ''Wax person'': On ne vspomnil i smotrel na kafli, i smotreniyeyego bylo samoye detskoye, bezo vsego. Melnitsa vetryanaya, i pavilon s mostom, i korabli trekhmachtovyye. I more (Он не вспомнил и смотрел на кафли, и смотрение его было самое детское, безо всего. Мельница ветряная, и павильон с мостом, и корабли трехмачтовые. И море). The first several chapters of the novel ''Maloletny Viushishnikov'' (''Малолетный Витушишников'') ends with separate sentences-paragraphs that seem like titles in a film: ''Vse drognuli'' (''Все дрогнули''), ''Priyem konchilsya'' (''Прием кончился''), ''Byl chas dnya" (''Был час дня''). The chapters four and nine end with the phrase ''Byl chas dnya" (''Был час дня''). It helps to show several story lines simultaneously just as the repeating frame returns us to the event shown earlier. Reiteration of the final phrase connects the episodes to a single event stretched out over time. In the article ''About the Story and the Plot of a Movie'' Tynianov speaks about repeatability of a frame that creates its duration. So, with the help of montage composition Tynianov achieves the ability to recreate the illusion of length, i.e. to make a work of art closer to a constantly moving and changing reality.

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