Un ‘monumento alla manipolazione letteraria’: il Marko Polo di Viktor Šklovskij
Journal: Firenze University Press eBooks
Year: 2025

Viktor Shklovsky’s Marko Polo (1936) is a polyphonic work that disguises the biography of the Venetian explorer as a sophisticated formalist literary exercise. Conceived in a politically hostile climate, the book masks its method beneath the guise of a tale for young soviet pionery, blending quotes from Il Milione and other medieval European sources with Russo-centric historical reflections. Through irony, defamiliarization (ostranenie), and fragmented narration, Shklovsky creates a text that is