Page 187 - DENG501_LITERARY_CRITICISM_AND_THEORIES

Unit 16: Mikhail Bakhtin and his ‘From the Prehistory of Novelistic Discourse-Dialogics in Novels: Introduction

and populate them with one's own intention." Bakhtin's deep insights on dialogicality represent a Notes
substantive shift from views on the nature of language and knowledge by major thinkers as
Ferdinand de Saussure and Immanuel Kant.
In "Epic and Novel", Bakhtin demonstrates the novel's distinct nature by contrasting it with the
epic. By doing so, Bakhtin shows that the novel is well-suited to the post-industrial civilization in
which we live because it flourishes on diversity. It is this same diversity that the epic attempts to
eliminate from the world. According to Bakhtin, the novel as a genre is unique in that it is able to
embrace, ingest, and devour other genres while still maintaining its status as a novel. Other
genres, however, cannot emulate the novel without damaging their own distinct identity.
"From the Prehistory of Novelistic Discourse" is a less traditional essay in which Bakhtin reveals
how various different texts from the past have ultimately come together to form the modern novel.
"Forms of Time and of the Chronotope in the Novel" introduces Bakhtin's concept of chronotope.
This essay applies the concept in order to further demonstrate the distinctive quality of the novel.
The word chronotope literally means "time space" and is defined by Bakhtin as "the intrinsic
connectedness of temporal and spatial relationships that are artistically expressed in literature."
For the purpose of his writing, an author must create entire worlds and, in doing so, is forced to
make use of the organizing categories of the real world in which he lives. For this reason chronotope
is a concept that engages reality.
The final essay, "Discourse in the Novel", is one of Bakhtin's most complete statements concerning
his philosophy of language. It is here that Bakhtin provides a model for a history of discourse and
introduces the concept of heteroglossia. The term heteroglossia refers to the qualities of a language
that are extralinguistic, but common to all languages. These include qualities such as perspective,
evaluation, and ideological positioning. In this way most languages are incapable of neutrality,
for every word is inextricably bound to the context in which it exists.

16.4 Speech Genres and Other Late Essays

In Speech Genres and Other Late Essays Bakhtin moves away from the novel and concerns himself
with the problems of method and the nature of culture. There are six essays that comprise this
compilation: "Response to a Question from the Novy Mir Editorial Staff", "The Bildungsroman and
Its Significance in the History of Realism", "The Problem of Speech Genres", "The Problem of the
Text in Linguistics, Philology, and the Human Sciences: An Experiment in Philosophical Analysis",
"From Notes Made in 1970-71," and "Toward a Methodology for the Human Sciences."
"Response to a Question from the Novy Mir Editorial Staff" is a transcript of comments made by
Bakhtin to a reporter from a monthly journal called Novy Mir that was widely read by Soviet
intellectuals. The transcript expresses Bakhtin's opinion of literary scholarship whereby he highlights
some of its shortcomings and makes suggestions for improvement.
"The Bildungsroman and Its Significance in the History of Realism" is a fragment from one of
Bakhtin's lost books. The publishing house to which Bakhtin had submitted the full manuscript
was blown up during the German invasion and Bakhtin was in possession of only the prospectus.
However, due to a shortage of paper, Bakhtin began using this remaining section to roll cigarettes.
So only a portion of the opening section remains. This remaining section deals primarily with
Goethe.
"The Problem of Speech Genres" deals with the difference between Saussurean linguistics and
language as a living dialogue (translinguistics). In a relatively short space, this essay takes up a
topic about which Bakhtin had planned to write a book, making the essay a rather dense and
complex read. It is here that Bakhtin distinguishes between literary and everyday language.
According to Bakhtin, genres exist not merely in language, but rather in communication. In dealing
with genres, Bakhtin indicates that they have been studied only within the realm of rhetoric
andliterature, but each discipline draws largely on genres that exist outside both rhetoric and

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