The Concept of Hidden Polemic in Two Editions of Bakhtin’s Work on Dostoevsky

Abstract

This article is the result of a comparative analysis of two editions of Bakhtin’s work: Problems of Dostoevsky’s Creation, first published in 1929, and Problems of Dostoevsky’s Poetics, revised and published in 1963. The objective is to compare how the two editions present the concept of hidden polemic focusing on the forms in which the other’s discourse is present. The methodology relies on a Bakhtinian analysis of the novella Notes from Underground (1864) by Fyodor Dostoevsky, in particular, the linguistic-discursive formation of the hidden polemic. In what ways do the alterations in the second edition contribute to new insights regarding the polemic? Results point to the existence of preservations and changes that clarify the importance of the concept of polemic for the analysis of the other’s discourse in literary discourses, and also discourses in social circulation.