Mikhail Bakhtin

Simon Dentith (University of Reading)
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Although Bakhtin's first book, on Dostoevsky, was published in 1929, it was only in the last thirty years of the twentieth century that the publication of much of his writing, in Russian and then in translation, allowed his work to become widely influential. Along with the recovery of Bakhtin's writing, the related work of the Bakhtin Circle (a group of intellectuals from the 1920s) has also been rediscovered, especially the writings of V. N. Vološinov and P. N. Medvedev. Much controversy has surrounded the authorship of the work of these latter two writers, which has been widely ascribed to Bakhtin himself; however, in the absence of conclusive archival evidence, it is safest to consider their books to be their own work, albeit closely related to the ideas of Bakhtin.

These ideas emerge

2134 words

Citation: Dentith, Simon. "Mikhail Bakhtin". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 18 July 2001 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=228, accessed 19 March 2024.]

228 Mikhail Bakhtin 1 Historical context notes are intended to give basic and preliminary information on a topic. In some cases they will be expanded into longer entries as the Literary Encyclopedia evolves.

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