Mikhail Bakhtin: The Dialogical Principle

by Tzvetan Todorov, Wlad Godzich (Translator)

Briefly traces the life and career of Mikhail Bakhtin, a Russian critic, and discusses his writings about culture, texts, and meaning

Genres: Philosophy, Literature, Criticism, Linguistics, Nonfiction

132 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1981

About the author

In Bulgarian Цветан Тодоров. Todorov was a Franco-Bulgarian historian, philosopher and literary theoretician. Among his most influential works is his theory on the fantastic, the uncanny and marvellous.

Reviews

[حسن صنوبری · Rating 2 out of 5]

«در عالم کتابخوانی روشنفکری، مدها حکومت میکنند نه فکرها»
این کتاب هم در کارهای علمی یکجورهایی به عنوان منبع مد شده
مخصوصا برای کسانی که میخواهند در پژوهششان روی یک اثر فارسی اسمی از باختین (ولو تزئینی) حضور داشته باشد
علی ای حال بر این باورم که کتاب پیش رو صلاحیت لازم برای مورد استناد و مطالعه قرار گرفتن در پژوهش ها را ندارد. کاری به باختین و تودوروف ندارم؛ ترجمه کتاب آنقدر بد است که چیز خاصی از آنسو به اینسو نمیرسد
کتاب را قبلا خوانده ام و یادم هست بعضی سطرهایش را با دوستم -که بیش از من در مطالعات نقد ادبی جدید وارد بود- میخواندیم و به خاطر بی معناییشان میخندیدیم. مخصوصا به کسانی که همین جملات را برای تزئین در پژوهشهایشان استفاده میکنند
البته همانطور که گفتم کتاب را قبلا خوانده ام و شاید اگر الآن بخوانم اوضاع عوض شده باشد! اما فکر میکنم برای منطق گفتگویی و بینامتنیت و مفاهیم مشابه کتابهای بهتری هم باشند

[Mohammad Ranjbari · Rating 3 out of 5]

انتظار جامعیت و جذابیت بیشتری از این کتاب داشتم اما هم مختصر بود و هم کمی مغلق در ترجمه.
هر چند مولف نیز اقرار به سخت و دیریاب بودن زبان باختین کرده بود. خود مولف (تزوتان تودوروف) یکی از چهره های مشهور در ساختارگرایی ست.
به هر حال یادداشت های خوبی از این کتاب نیز برداشتم.
فصل دوم: «معرفت شناسی علوم انسانی»، برای من بی سابقه بود و چنین بحث هایی را فقط در فلسفۀ کانت و بیکن مطالعه کرده بودم. خواند تمایز و ماهیت علوم انسانی و تجربی در این حیطه و بُعد برای من جالب و لذت بخش بود

[Craig · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this as part of a long paper I wrote at uni in Austria. Todorov walks through Bakhtin's theoretical implications very lucidly, and in quite an ordered fashion. "The dialogical principle" itself was what fired my engine though--comprehending and applying this principle in literature (and other realms) was mentally empowering!

[sologdin · Rating 2 out of 5]

thoughtful commentary on bakhtinian ideas, but with a structuralist perspective and vocabulary. this is a standard theme one may notice in reading books about bakhtin, where the commentator's perspective seeks to claim our humble Russian theorist.

[Masih Tolouie · Rating 2 out of 5]

خوندن این کتاب خیلی برام سخت بود و طول کشید چون ترجمه کتاب یه جاهایی باعث گنگ شدن موضوع صحبت میشد. برای مثال استفاده از کلمه ی سخن به جای گفتمان در فصل های اول که این دو بار معنایی متفاوتی دارن. با این حال این مسائل باعث شد که خودم بعضی جاها دنبال ترجمه ی مناسب تر بگردم
و اینکه کتاب من چاپ پنجمه ولی از لحاظ ویرایش و نگارش هنوز مشکل داره. مثلا تو صفحه 78 و 79 یک پاراگراف دوبار پشت سر هم نوشته شده که امیدوارم توی چاپ های بعدی رفع شده باشه.

[Jason · Rating 5 out of 5]

Can be applied to lit theory, punk rock or any other contemporary medium.

Bakhtin is/was the man.

[Richárd Janczer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Non privo di criticità ma estremamente chiaro nel delineare alcuni punti delicati del complesso pensiero di Bachtin. Si tratta di un'introduzione, di un invito alla lettura, non dell'ultima parola su di esso. Eppure, qualsiasi imperfezione viene lavata via dal torrente di lacrime che provoca il meraviglioso "finale" (o iniziazione) di questo volume.

[Reuben Woolley · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have minor quibbles about methodology, and some things are translated in ways that are different to later translations that can make Todorov a confusing outlier with regards to Bakhtin’s terminology, but this is a really good compact but comprehensive summary of dialogue in Bakhtin’s work. It also ends on a genuinely very touching note about using the book to try and bring Bakhtin the audience he could never achieve in the USSR. I’ll quote it here, because this book is hard to find in print or pdf. It comes just after discussing Bakhtin’s concept of a ‘super receiver’, a figure like god (or the notion of scientific discovery) who we imagine as the second receiver of everything we say/do, who is aware of the entire history of discourse and remembers all that individuals by their nature forget. We imagine this figure to allow for our own ideas/discourses to not be in vain even if they aren’t heard by another receptive individual. This is where Todorov picks up:

“One does not feel the right to confine oneself to pure textual analysis here, and to forget the circumstances in which these very pages were written. Some have relished in pointing out the paradox of having an invalid and mutilated individual write the paean to the body that is the ‘Rabelais’. But isn’t it even more moving to see the theoretician of dialogue, a man for whom the absence of response is evil absolute, hell, suffer this singular fate: never get a response? Either his books appear, but under another name; then someone else gets the response (we have a letter full of astonishment from Pasternak addressed to Medvedev: Pasternak did not imagine him capable of such penetration); or he takes the responsibility for his books, but to put them in a drawer: twenty-five years for the ‘Rabelais’, forty for ‘Questions of Literature and Aesthetics’; and a book written before 1925 will only appear toward 1980... ; others may never appear, lost or censored. At a time of frenzied overpublication, one can admire Bakhtin’s determination for developing the same thoughts over fifty years while putting them away in his files. But one may well wonder to what extent the whole theory of dialogue may have originated from the desire to understand this unbearable state — the absence of response. Bakhtin describes the fate of Dostoevsky’s characters in capitalistic society thus:

“Hence the representation of sufferings, humiliations, and the non-recognition of man in class society. His recognition and his name have been taken away. He has been thrown out into forced loneliness, that the unsubjugated attempt to transform into *proud solitude* (making do without recognition, without others).”

What is there to say about his fate, in his society? And does it suffice to imagine super-receivers to compensate the absence of recipients, of responsive understanding? It is in order to remedy this lack that I have tried, in these pages, to have Bakhtin’s voice be heard again: so that the dialogue can finally begin.”

[Tanya Marlow · Rating 3 out of 5]

After reading Newsom’s book on Job, I decided to read more on Bakhtin’s literary theory. This book is a good introduction to his work as it highlights key quotes and both translates and simplifies them. Bakhtin is still a little obscure, and I discovered from this book that most of his writings were unpublished, which is why they’re harder to interpret. However, his presentation of literature as a dynamic, ever-changing conversation between author, text, audience and reader is a helpful lens to have when reading literature. If you’re looking for a quick primer on Bakhtin, this will be of help to you – but otherwise, it’s unlikely you’ll want to read this.

[Dionysius the Areopagite · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ammunition.

[Ali · Rating 4 out of 5]

میخاییل باختین یکی از نظریه پردازان اثرگذار در زمینه ی متن و نقد متن و ادبیات است. در این کتاب تودورف برخی از عقاید و نظریات باختین را بررسیده که در شناخت نظریات باختین کمک موثری است. "منطق گفتگویی میخاییل باختین" توسط داریوش کریمی به فارسی برگردانده شده و نشر مرکز در 1377 منتشر کرده است

[Laleh · Rating 4 out of 5]

نسخه ای که من خواندم چاپ سوم است و صفحات 81، 103، 150 و 154 نیاز به ویرایش دارند.‏

[Roqaia Abdullah]

ليست المرة الأولى التي أعيد فيها قراءة هذا الكتاب العميق، ولإعادة قراءة الكتب لذة مختلفة

[Giovanni Gregory · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent