In “The Theory of the “Formal Method””, written in 1925, the author Boris Eichenbaum describes and explains the evolution of the Russian formalist movement and, thereby , sheds light on his main arguments. He asserts that there is no fixed theory or ready-made system that can be described as formalist theory. The formalist position is based on the fact that the object of literary science, as such, must be the study of the specificities that distinguish it from all other material. For the formalists, the object of literary science is not literature but literariness. Their ideas are still evolving and so this essay is only a snapshot of the current state. Eichen-baum says that for formalists, theory and history merge not only in words but also in facts. The formalist approach has scientific principles, so it is objective, scientific and allows literature to be studied systematically. He says that they are not the partisans of a certain method but the students of an object. The formalists went through different states. First, the movement began by deliberately ignoring the pre...