Mikhail Bakhtin facts for kids

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Quick facts for kids Mikhail Bakhtin
Mikhail Bakhtin (1920)
Born	16 November [O.S. 4 November] 1895 Oryol, Russian Empire
Died	7 March 1975(1975-03-07) (aged 79) Moscow, Russian SFSR
Alma mater	Odessa University (no degree) Petrograd Imperial University

Era	20th-century philosophy
Region	Russian philosophy
Institutions	Mordovian Pedagogical Institute
Main interests	literary theory, literary criticism
Notable ideas	Heteroglossia, dialogism, chronotope, carnivalesque, polyphony
Influences Fyodor Dostoyevsky, F. F. Zelinsky, Immanuel Kant, Karl Marx, Sigmund Freud, Charles Darwin, Hermann Cohen, Ernst Cassirer, Max Scheler, Søren Kierkegaard, Friedrich Nietzsche
Influenced Julia Kristeva, Tzvetan Todorov

Mikhail Mikhailovich Bakhtin (born November 16, 1895 – died March 7, 1975) was a Russian thinker. He was a philosopher, a literary critic, and a scholar. He studied literary theory, how we think about right and wrong (ethics), and the philosophy of language.

Bakhtin's ideas have inspired many scholars. His work has been important in fields like literary criticism, history, philosophy, and sociology. Even though he was active in the 1920s, his unique ideas only became well-known in the 1960s.

Early Life and Education

Mikhail Bakhtin was born in Oryol, Russia. His family was from the nobility. His father worked as a bank manager, which meant the family moved often.

Bakhtin spent his early years in Oryol, then in Vilnius, and later in Odessa. In 1913, he started studying history and languages at Odessa University. He later moved to Petrograd Imperial University to join his brother. There, he was greatly influenced by the classical scholar F. F. Zelinsky. Zelinsky's ideas helped shape Bakhtin's own thinking.

Bakhtin's Career Journey

Bakhtin finished his studies in 1918. He then moved to Nevel, a small city in western Russia. For two years, he worked there as a schoolteacher.

The Bakhtin Circle Forms

In Nevel, the first "Bakhtin Circle" began. This was a group of thinkers who loved discussing literature, religion, and politics. Valentin Voloshinov and P. N. Medvedev were part of this group. They often talked about German philosophy. Bakhtin started to see himself more as a philosopher than a literary scholar.

In 1919, Bakhtin published his first work, "Art and Responsibility." This was a small part of a larger book he was writing about moral philosophy.

Moving to Vitebsk and Leningrad

Bakhtin moved to Vitebsk in 1920. This city was a cultural hub. In 1921, he married Elena Aleksandrovna Okolovich. In 1923, he became ill with a bone disease called osteomyelitis. This illness affected his ability to work and led to his leg being amputated in 1938.

The Bakhtin Circle in Leningrad, 1924-26.

In 1924, Bakhtin moved to Leningrad. He worked at the Historical Institute and advised a publishing house. He tried to publish his work, but journals often stopped printing. This problem of his writings being lost or not published happened throughout his life.

Challenges and Exile

In 1929, Bakhtin's first major book, "Problems of Dostoevsky’s Art," was published. In this book, he introduced the idea of dialogism. Soon after, in December 1928, Bakhtin and others were arrested by the Soviet secret police.

He was sentenced to a labor camp. However, because of his health, his sentence was changed to exile in Kazakhstan. He and his wife lived in Kustanai for six years. In 1936, they moved to Saransk, where Bakhtin taught at the Mordovian Pedagogical Institute.

While in Kustanai, he wrote important essays like "Discourse in the Novel." In 1937, Bakhtin moved to Kimry, a town near Moscow. He finished a book about 18th-century German novels, but the only copy was lost during the German invasion in 1941.

Later Life and Recognition

After his leg amputation in 1938, Bakhtin's health improved. From 1940 until the end of World War II, he lived in Moscow. He submitted a long paper about the French writer François Rabelais to get a higher degree.

The defense of this paper in 1946 and 1949 caused a big debate among scholars. Some liked his new ideas, while others did not. The government even got involved. In the end, he was given a lower degree than he had hoped for.

Bakhtin was later invited back to Saransk. He became the head of the General Literature Department at the Mordovian Pedagogical Institute. When the institute became a university in 1957, he led the Department of Russian and World Literature.

In 1961, Bakhtin retired due to his health. In 1969, he moved back to Moscow for medical care. He lived there until his death in 1975.

Bakhtin's ideas became truly popular only after he passed away. He faced many challenges during his life. Information was often seen as dangerous, and access to Russian archives was limited. This meant many details about his life were unclear or even wrong until later.

Bakhtin's Key Ideas and Works

Bakhtin developed many important ideas about language, literature, and culture.

Toward a Philosophy of the Act: Understanding Our Actions

This book was first published in Russia in 1986. It was written between 1919 and 1921. The original manuscript was in poor condition, with missing and unreadable pages. So, the book we have today is only a part of what he planned.

In this work, Bakhtin explored how our actions and deeds shape "the world we actually experience." He wanted to understand how we participate in being unique. He believed that our unique identity comes from our place in the world and how we act.

Bakhtin also talked about how we develop our identity. He suggested that we understand ourselves largely through how others see us. This means our identity is not just our own, but shared with everyone around us.

Problems of Dostoevsky's Poetics: Many Voices and Open Endings

While in Leningrad, Bakhtin started focusing on the idea of dialogue. He studied the works of the famous writer Fyodor Dostoyevsky. This book is considered one of Bakhtin's most important works. It was first published in 1929 and then revised in 1963.

What is Unfinalizability?

A key idea in this book is unfinalizability. This means that a person can never be fully defined or understood by others. We always have the ability to change and surprise. Bakhtin believed that Dostoevsky showed characters who were always "on the threshold" of a new decision. They were at a turning point where their future was not yet decided.

Carnival and Its Meaning

Bakhtin used the term 'carnivalization' to describe how Dostoevsky made true dialogue possible. He saw a "carnival sense of the world" in ancient traditions. This idea suggests a time when normal rules, social roles, and truths are turned upside down.

In carnival, people from different backgrounds come together as equals. They can express themselves freely, without the usual social pressures. Bakhtin saw this as a way to create situations where "opposites come together." This allows for creative interaction and understanding.

The Polyphonic Novel

Bakhtin believed Dostoevsky created a new type of novel: the polyphonic novel. In these novels, the author does not just tell the story from one point of view. Instead, each character has their own independent voice and way of seeing the world. Bakhtin called this "a plurality of independent and unmerged voices." It's like a choir where many voices sing together, but each voice is distinct.

Rabelais and His World: Laughter and the Grotesque

During World War II, Bakhtin wrote a long paper about the French Renaissance writer François Rabelais. This work was very controversial and was not published until 1965. It was titled Rabelais and His World.

In this book, Bakhtin explored the "openness" of Rabelais's writings. He looked at parts of Rabelais's work that were often ignored. He also studied the social system of the Renaissance period. He wanted to understand the balance between what was allowed to be said and what was not.

Bakhtin identified two important ideas: carnival (as a social event) and grotesque realism (as a literary style). He showed how society and literature interact. He also discussed the meaning of the human body in art and culture. Bakhtin believed that laughter had a powerful, freeing effect. He argued that "laughing truth... degraded power."

The Dialogic Imagination: Time, Space, and Many Languages

This book, published in 1975, is a collection of four essays. These essays are about language and the novel. In them, Bakhtin introduced the concepts of heteroglossia, dialogism, and chronotope. These ideas greatly influenced literary studies.

What is a Chronotope?

In the essay "Forms of Time and of the Chronotope in the Novel," Bakhtin introduced his idea of the chronotope. This word means "time space." Bakhtin defined it as "the inner connection of time and space that are artistically shown in literature." When authors create fictional worlds, they use the ways we understand time and space in the real world. So, the chronotope connects literature to reality.

Understanding Heteroglossia

The essay "Discourse in the Novel" explains the concept of heteroglossia. This term refers to the different qualities of a language that are not just about grammar. These include things like perspective, how we judge things, and our beliefs. Bakhtin believed that most languages are not neutral. Every word is connected to the situation in which it is used. This means that when we speak, we often use the words of others, but we fill them with our own meaning.

Speech Genres and Other Late Essays: How We Use Language

In this collection of essays, Bakhtin moved away from just studying the novel. He looked at how we use language in different situations. This book includes six essays.

Speech Genres in Everyday Life

"The Problem of Speech Genres" explores the difference between language as a fixed system and language as a living conversation. Bakhtin argued that we use different "genres" of speech. These are not just literary genres. They are ways we speak and write in everyday life. For example, talking to a friend is one genre, while writing a scientific report is another.

Bakhtin divided these into primary genres (everyday talk) and secondary genres (like legal or scientific texts). He believed that these everyday genres had not been studied enough.

The Problem of the Text

"The Problem of the Text in Linguistics, Philology, and the Human Sciences" is a collection of Bakhtin's notes. He focused on how a text relates to its context. Bakhtin said that when we speak, we shape our words based on three things: what we are talking about, who we are talking to, and a "superaddressee" (a kind of ideal listener). This shows how complex dialogue is.

Bakhtin's Lasting Impact

Bakhtin's ideas gained popularity after his death. He is known for his interest in many different subjects. He also used different ways of writing, sometimes even pretending to be other authors.

Influence on Modern Thought

Bakhtin's work is often compared to that of other important thinkers. He is linked to the Russian Formalists, a group of literary scholars. His ideas started to be noticed by scholars in 1963. After his death in 1975, writers like Julia Kristeva and Tzvetan Todorov introduced his work to the wider world. His popularity grew in many countries.

Bakhtin's main works include Toward a Philosophy of the Act, Problems of Dostoyevsky’s Poetics, Rabelais and His World, The Dialogic Imagination, and Speech Genres and Other Late Essays.

He has influenced many modern theories, such as Neo-Marxism, Structuralism, and Semiotics. His work has also been helpful in anthropology, especially in understanding rituals.

Bakhtin and Communication

Some people call Bakhtin "the philosopher of human communication." His ideas about dialogue and how stories are told can be used in almost all studies of human behavior. Bakhtin's ideas help us understand the complex reality of how we communicate.

Communication and Culture

Bakhtin believed that human experience is often simplified by common theories. He was critical of efforts to make meaning-making a closed or fixed process. His idea of dialogism helps us understand differences in new ways. Our cultural background and experiences greatly affect how we understand any message.

Carnival and Communication

The idea of the 'carnivalesque' is also linked to communication. It involves turning society's rules upside down through communication. This can be through writing, protests, or other forms of expression. For example, some corporate events like sales meetings or employee picnics can be seen as "carnivalesque." They involve a temporary break from normal rules and a focus on fun. This shows how the "high" and "low" parts of culture interact in communication.