Bakhtin on The Novel Flashcards
How does Bakhtin define the novel?
A ‘diversity of voices, artistically organised’; ‘social heteroglossia’
Which situations create the novel form?
Situations of ‘heteroglossia’
What is special about the novel genre?
The only ‘uncompleted’ genre - the ‘zone of maximal contact with the present’
What is the novel ‘determined’ by?
‘determined by experience, knowledge, and practice (the future)’
What is special about language and the novel?
Language ‘lies on the same plane’ as the hero
The two re- central concepts
‘Re-thinking and re-evaluating’ central to novel
What is the ‘danger’ in the ‘novelistic zone of contact’
In the ‘novelistic zone of contact we may ourselves enter the novel’
Difference in characters between epic and novel?
In epic, character is ‘externalised’; in novel ‘the subjectivity of the individual’ is the topic of ‘representation’
What is the hero of a novel always, according to Bakhtin?
Hero of the novel ‘is always an ideologue’
What does novelistic discourse do?
‘Novelistic discourse is always criticizing itself’
What is needed for ‘authentically real’ discourse?
Distance between ‘language and reality’ is needed for ‘authentically real’ discourse
What is language in the novel, according to Bakhtin?
Not ‘absolute dogma’ but ‘working hypothesis for comprehending and expressing reality’; but language is pre-bound with meanings and may not ‘submit easily’ to each interpretation
