"Throughout the unbroken sequence of world war, revolution, and civil war, these men feverishly pursued their trades. While battles raged on the outskirts of Petrograd, they met in icy, sometimes flooded rooms to argue abstruse questions of literary style and structure. After showing the members of Opoyaz how novels are assembled, Shklovsky would return to his unit and show his students there the more mundane techniques involved in assembling armored cars."
—Richard Sheldon, (first) introduction to Viktor Shklovsky's A Sentimental Journey