Mikhail Bakhtin An Aesthetic for Democracy

by Hirschkop, Ken

• ISBN13: 9780198159612
• ISBN10: 0198159617
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2000-03-02
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

This book makes a radical break with earlier interpretations of Bakhtin'swork. Using recent Russian scholarship, Kenneth Hirschkop explodes many of themyths which have surrounded Bakhtin and his work and lays the ground for a new,more historically acute sense of his achievement. Through a comprehensivereading of Bakhtin's work, Hirschkop demonstrates that his discussion of thephilosophy of language, literary history, popularfestive culture, and thephenomenology of everyday life revolved around a lifelong search for a new kindof modern ethical culture. A detailed examination of the major works reveals thecareful interweaving of philosophical and historical argument which makesBakhtin at once so compelling and so frustrating a writer. Hirschkop treatsBakhtin not as a metaphysician or a philosopher for the ages, but as a writerinevitably drawn into the historical conflicts produced by a modernizing anddemocratizing Europe. As a consequence, Bakhtin becomes a more sober but alsomore original writer, with a striking contribution to make to the definition ofthe democratic project.

Author Biography

Ken Hirschkop is Lecturer in English Literature, University of Manchester.

Table of Contents

Preface	p. vii
Acknowledgements	p. xi
A Note on Sources, References, and Transliteration	p. xvi
List of Abbreviations	p. xviii
An Argument About Dialogue	p. 1
Introduction: Language and Democracy	p. 3
Dialogue with History	p. 50
the Matter of History	p. 109
Bakhtin Myths and Bakhtin History	p. 111
Refinements	p. 195
Language	p. 197
the Novel	p. 225
the Public Square, as Public Sphere	p. 249
Fear and Democracy	p. 272
Bibliography	p. 299
Index	p. 325
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