Introduction

In this chapter, the editors introduce Viktor Shklovsky’s definition of ostranenie and its long-lasting influence on later developments in literary and art theory (from Brecht’s Verfremdungseffekt to Mark Fisher’s The Weird and the Eerie). After discussing recent scholarship on e(n)strangement, the editors also consider the reasons behind the growing interest in this topic against the backdrop of specific scholarly trends within and beyond the Humanities—including the “Weird turn,” postcritique, 4E cognition, and new formalism, but also decoloniality and posthumanism. In dialogue with this wide range of theoretical and methodological perspectives, as well as with previous research specifically focusing on Shklovsky’s work and its afterlife, this collection aims to further illuminate ostranenie’s relevance in the present day.