ABSTRACT

The best-known works of Bakhtin's middle period, such as his book on Dostoevsky and Discourse in the Novel, are all in some ways dependent on the elaboration of a theory of language a 'trans-linguistics' as one call it in. By returning to Bakhtin's earliest work, written but unpublished in the 1920s, in order to explore the model of self-other relations developed there, which underpins his later ideas on the significance of language and the more familiar categories of dialogism, heteroglossia, chronotope and carnival. It is not possible in the present context to duplicate Bakhtin's rather cavalier attitude, citation and reference is focused heavily on Bakhtin's own writings and has been kept to a minimum in relation to other critical and theoretical sources. It is that the Bakhtin who provides powerful resources for the study of literature is entirely consistent with the Bakhtin who stands at the heart of differently conceived Humanities.