Problems of Dostoevsky’s Creation (1929): Genesis of the Text and Bibliographic Sources

Abstract

The aim of this article is to arrive at a better understanding of Mikhail Bakhtin’s concept of the polyphonic novel, proposed in the book Problems of Dostoevsky’s Creation (1929), in the first place, by recovering the genesis of the text within the chronology of Bakhtin’s works, and secondly, through Russian and Soviet interlocutors in two fields: Literary Theory/Criticism, and Philosophy. Bibliographic research, and cross-checking texts revealed, on the one hand, the sources of the concept of polyphony, and, on the other, Bakhtin’s original formulations.