The Novel: an Ethico-Political Genre from a Bakhtinian Perspective

Abstract

This paper discusses some major categories presented in Bakhtin`s texts, such as dialogism, carnivalization, polyphony with a focus on the novelistic genre, which was the object of exhaustive study by the Russian thinker. The discussion aims to achieve a better understanding of a methodological, theoretical and political perspective of discourse analysis in Brazilian novels. Throughout the paper, there are some examples of Brazilian novels that can be read from the Bakhtinian perspective. It is emphasized that, for the Russian thinker, language is central to the ontology of social being and reflection about language as a plural reality is the measure to achieve a democratic society.