Abstract

The philologist Aleksandr Potebnya (1835-1891) coined the Russian term of poeticalness, i. e. literariness. His ideas were adopted and modifi ed by the RussianFormalists who gave modern literary criticism its linguistic shape. The relation between Potebnya and the Formalists is not quite clear, however. Do they owehim more than they admitted? Or did they change his ideas so signifi cantly that he cannot truly be considered their ancestor? In this paper, I give an outline ofthe Western reception of Potebnya’s literary theory, dividing it into three historical sections. The fi rst section of the reception shows Potebnya’s literary theoryexclusively in the light of Russian Formalism. The second section concentrates on Potebnya’s own ancestors. And the third section tries to give a thorough account with regard to the European history of ideas.