Page 192 - DENG501_LITERARY_CRITICISM_AND_THEORIES

Literary Criticism and Theories

Notes 17.1 Mikhail Bakhtin's, "From the Prehistory of Novelistic Discourse"

In Mikhail Bakhtin's essay, "From the Prehistory of Novelistic Discourse," Bakhtin discusses the
origin and nature of the novel arguing that "mere literary styles" are not enough to analyze and
define the novel, and instead we should focus on the relationships between the distinct elements
that distinguish the novel from other genres.
Bakhtin begins by briefly charting the course of the attempt to analysis and define the novel, and
the resulting failure, because of the failure to explore the "stylistic specificum, of the novel as a
genre." Bakhtin then provides a few examples of the use of imagery and metaphor within a novel,
and how these elements different from their use in poetics. Bakhtin points out a distinctive
characteristic of the novel "the image of the another's language and outlook on the world…,
simultaneously represented and representing, is extremely typical of the novel." Bakhtin then
discusses the relationship between the styalistic elements an author uses in a novel as "connected
to one another and with the author via their own characteristic dialogical relationships." Bakhtin
posits that it is these relationships that define the sense of style of a novel, and of the genre as a
whole. Another distinguishing characteristic of the language in the novel, as mentioned above, is
that language not only represents something in the world, but also "serves as the object of
representation."
In the next section of "From the Prehistory of Novelistic Discourse," Bakhtin discusses the idea of
parody. Bakhtin spends a great deal of time going over the origin of parody and its varying roles,
all to conclude that the novel allowed the author to examine language from "the point of view of
a potentially different language and style." It is this "creating consciousness" that sets apart the
novel from other genres. Parody within the novel is a parody about an object (like the use of
parody in other genres) but this parody itself becomes an object. The final section of "From the
Prehistory of Novelistic Discourse," is an exploration of the use of the quotation. Like the other
elements that distinguish the novel, Bakhtin spends some time going over the origin and use of
the quotation, ending in its use today in the novel. Through his discourse on quotation, Bakhtin
determines that the quotation was one of the first elements responsible for parody. "Latin parody,
is therefore, a bilingual phenomenon," concludes Bakhtin. Bakhtin ends by reminding the reader
that we cannot examine the prehistory of the novelistic word with "mere literary styles."
Bakhtin's essay was tough to comprehend. The beginning of the essay had a much easier pace and
clearer direction to read to, so that it was much more understandable. What I got lost in was the
myriad examples Bakhtin employed to illustrate his point. More so than any other author we
have read, Bakhtin relied upon the use of multiple and detailed examples to make his point.
However, I did identify with Bakhtin's first discussion on the language of the novel. Here, Bakhtin
was able to isolate what it is that distinguishes the novel from other genre's, that is, its unique
ability to represent an external object, but also be itself an object; the language of the novel both
represents and is representing simultaneously. Bakhtin said, "Novelistic discourse is always
criticizing itself," which strongly resonated for me with Paul de Man's theory on the resistance to
theory. De Man concludes, that theory is resistance to itself in the same way that Bakhtin concludes
that the language of the novel criticizes itself.
One of the weak points I found in Bakhtin's essay was during the beginning, when he made some
very hasty premises to his argument, such as, the "Five different stylisitic approaches to the
novelistic discourse…" Another concept, which I couldn't fully grasp in Bakhtin's essay, was his
concept of parody. Bakhtin spent page after page talking directly and indirectly about the nature
and use of parody, even going into its early use in the Middle Age carnival. Even if I didn't
understand, necessarily, Bakhtin's concept of parody, it did find it a fascinating subject to focus
on. Rarely do these theoreticians focus on the notion of the comedy, specifically, and it was an
interesting notion as to attribute it to the inception of the early novel. Bakhtin's last paragraph
was an interesting shift from the rest of the novel. Separated by a space, the last paragraph
concisely summed up Bakhtin's discourse on the prehistory of the novel, underscoring the
importance of the history of the formation of the novel, beyond the interestes of "mere literary
styles." Staying true to his form, Bakhtin's last words included a number of examples.

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