diff --git a/rest_framework/settings.py b/rest_framework/settings.py
index 0b2bdb62d..7d25e5131 100644
--- a/rest_framework/settings.py
+++ b/rest_framework/settings.py
@@ -70,8 +70,8 @@ DEFAULTS = {
     'PAGINATE_BY_PARAM': None,
 
     # View configuration
-    'VIEW_NAME_FUNCTION': 'rest_framework.utils.formatting.view_name',
-    'VIEW_DESCRIPTION_FUNCTION': 'rest_framework.utils.formatting.view_description',
+    'VIEW_NAME_FUNCTION': 'rest_framework.views.get_view_name',
+    'VIEW_DESCRIPTION_FUNCTION': 'rest_framework.views.get_view_description',
 
     # Authentication
     'UNAUTHENTICATED_USER': 'django.contrib.auth.models.AnonymousUser',
diff --git a/rest_framework/utils/formatting.py b/rest_framework/utils/formatting.py
index 89a89252e..4b59ba840 100644
--- a/rest_framework/utils/formatting.py
+++ b/rest_framework/utils/formatting.py
@@ -5,12 +5,13 @@ from __future__ import unicode_literals
 
 from django.utils.html import escape
 from django.utils.safestring import mark_safe
-from rest_framework.compat import apply_markdown, smart_text
-import re
+from rest_framework.compat import apply_markdown
 from rest_framework.settings import api_settings
+from textwrap import dedent
+import re
 
 
-def _remove_trailing_string(content, trailing):
+def remove_trailing_string(content, trailing):
     """
     Strip trailing component `trailing` from `content` if it exists.
     Used when generating names from view classes.
@@ -20,10 +21,14 @@ def _remove_trailing_string(content, trailing):
     return content
 
 
-def _remove_leading_indent(content):
+def dedent(content):
     """
     Remove leading indent from a block of text.
     Used when generating descriptions from docstrings.
+
+    Note that python's `textwrap.dedent` doesn't quite cut it,
+    as it fails to dedent multiline docstrings that include
+    unindented text on the initial line.
     """
     whitespace_counts = [len(line) - len(line.lstrip(' '))
                          for line in content.splitlines()[1:] if line.lstrip()]
@@ -32,11 +37,10 @@ def _remove_leading_indent(content):
     if whitespace_counts:
         whitespace_pattern = '^' + (' ' * min(whitespace_counts))
         content = re.sub(re.compile(whitespace_pattern, re.MULTILINE), '', content)
-    content = content.strip('\n')
-    return content
 
+    return content.strip()
 
-def _camelcase_to_spaces(content):
+def camelcase_to_spaces(content):
     """
     Translate 'CamelCaseNames' to 'Camel Case Names'.
     Used when generating names from view classes.
@@ -54,21 +58,3 @@ def markup_description(description):
     else:
         description = escape(description).replace('\n', '<br />')
     return mark_safe(description)
-
-
-def view_name(instance, view, suffix=None):
-    name = view.__name__
-    name = _remove_trailing_string(name, 'View')
-    name = _remove_trailing_string(name, 'ViewSet')
-    name = _camelcase_to_spaces(name)
-    if suffix:
-        name += ' ' + suffix
-
-    return name
-
-def view_description(instance, view, html=False):
-    description = view.__doc__ or ''
-    description = _remove_leading_indent(smart_text(description))
-    if html:
-        return markup_description(description)
-    return description
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/rest_framework/views.py b/rest_framework/views.py
index 4553714a9..431e21f95 100644
--- a/rest_framework/views.py
+++ b/rest_framework/views.py
@@ -8,10 +8,29 @@ from django.http import Http404
 from django.utils.datastructures import SortedDict
 from django.views.decorators.csrf import csrf_exempt
 from rest_framework import status, exceptions
-from rest_framework.compat import View, HttpResponseBase
+from rest_framework.compat import smart_text, HttpResponseBase, View
 from rest_framework.request import Request
 from rest_framework.response import Response
 from rest_framework.settings import api_settings
+from rest_framework.utils import formatting
+
+
+def get_view_name(instance, view, suffix=None):
+    name = view.__name__
+    name = formatting.remove_trailing_string(name, 'View')
+    name = formatting.remove_trailing_string(name, 'ViewSet')
+    name = formatting.camelcase_to_spaces(name)
+    if suffix:
+        name += ' ' + suffix
+
+    return name
+
+def get_view_description(instance, view, html=False):
+    description = view.__doc__ or ''
+    description = formatting.dedent(smart_text(description))
+    if html:
+        return formatting.markup_description(description)
+    return description
 
 
 class APIView(View):