The Bakhtin Circle; In the Master's Absence

by Edited by David Shepherd, Craig Brandist and Galin Tihanov

• ISBN13: 9780719064081
• ISBN10: 0719064082
• Format: Trade Book
• Copyright: 2004-06-26
• Publisher: Manchester University Press

Summary

The Russian philosopher and cultural theorist Mikhail Bakhtin has traditionally been seen as the leading figure in the group of intellectuals known as the Bakhtin Circle. The writings of other members of the Circle are considered much less important than his work, while Bakhtin's achievement has been exaggerated in proportion to the downgrading of the thinkers with whom he associated in the 1920s. This volume, which includes new translations and studies of the work of the most important members of the Circle, sets out to correct the distortions in the established representations of its activity. The original contributions to literary and linguistic theory made by Valentin Voloshinov and Pavel Medvedev (but frequently credited to Bakhtin) are assessed, and the distinctiveness of their approaches is highlighted.

Author Biography

David Shepherd is Professor of Russian in the Department of Russian and Slavonic Studies, and founder and Director of the Bakhtin Centre, at the University of Sheffield. Craig Brandist is Senior Lecturer in the Bakhtin Centre and Department of Russian and Slavonic Studies at the University of Sheffield. Galin Tihanov is Reader in Comparative Literature and Intellectual History in the Department of European Languages and Cultures at Lancaster University.

Table of Contents

List of contributors	p. vii
Acknowledgements	p. ix
Note on transliteration and translation	p. x
Re-introducing the Bakhtin Circle	p. 1
About the Bakhtin Circle
The scholarly legacy of Pavel Medvedev in the light of his dialogue with Bakhtin	p. 24
Seeking a 'third way' for Soviet aesthetics: Eurasianism, Marxism, Formalism	p. 44
The Bakhtin Circle and problems in linguistics	p. 70
Voloshinov's dilemma: on the philosophical roots of the dialogic theory of the utterance	p. 97
Lev Pumpianskii and the Nevel School of philosophy	p. 125
Kanaev, vitalism and the Bakhtin Circle	p. 150
Sollertinskii and dialogical symphonism	p. 167
Selected works by members of the Bakhtin Circle
Tolstoi's Diary	p. 188
Hermann Cohen (4 July 1842-4 April 1918)	p. 193
[On Marxism]	p. 212
Archival materials
The problem of the transmission of alien discourse: an essay in sociolinguistic research	p. 223
Report on work as a postgraduate student, 1927/28: plan and some guiding thoughts for the work Marxism and the Philosophy of Language	p. 226
The Bakhtin Circle: a timeline	p. 251
Index	p. 277
Table of Contents provided by Rittenhouse. All Rights Reserved.