Problems of Dostoevsky’s Poetics (Volume 8) (Theory and History of Literature)

The ideas are evaporating.Try to imagine a place called Saint Paulwhere anyone who raises a finger fingerwill be sucked up in a mushroom cloudof stupidity. Then you need the two songsat the end of the Mutineer (1995) CD by Warren Zevon.Monkey WashDonkey Rinse(by Warren Zevon and Duncan Aldrich)Hell is only half fullRoom for you and meLooking for a new foolWho's it gonna be?Mutineer (by Warren Zevon)You're my witnessI'm your mutineerGrab your coat - let's get out of hereInstead of engaging in apple pie social activities, people have become excited about trying to solve the world's problems. I am disappointed that the index of Problems of Dostoevsky's Poetic (1984) by Mikhail Bakhtin does not locate what has been said about Earth as a level in the works of Dostoevsky. For Otto Kaus, the struggle in Dostoevsky's world that can never be resolved reflects the spirit of capitalism. The spirit of apple pie was destroyed, as I quote:Capitalism destroyed the isolationof these worlds, broke down theseclusion and inner ideologicalself-sufficiency of these social spheres.In its tendency to level everything,to leave intact no divisions exceptthe division between proletariat andcapitalist, capitalism jolted theseworlds and wove them into its owncontradictory evolving unity. (p. 19).each of these pieces gravitatestoward the integral field of visionof a specific character;each makes sense onlyat the level of a specificconsciousness. (p. 21).The essence of polyphonylies precisely in the factthat the voices remainindependent (p. 21).Engelhardt distinguishesthree planes in whichthe action of the novelcan unfold. The first plane isthe "environment." (p. 23).The second plane is the "soil." (p. 23).And finally, the third planeis the "earth." (p. 24)."that wonderful gardenplanted by the Lord," (p. 24).As 2012 begins for us with everything so electrified that a bad storm can disrupt what people who normally have minimal contact with the weather expect to accomplish, our cracks in time also expose how we don't have any answers for questions that God had usually been pictured as a reason for having an answer. On a political level, stability is challenged by a cultural divide that can be pictured as the opposite of fair and square:Sparta x x x x x x Spartacusxfinger x x x x x x x finger usRegimentation for uniformity still attempts to rid itself of dead wood that is not growing in productivity. The global village seems to search for a place where the press might have an answer, but the results merely finger the point at which people get turned into playgrounds. Bakhtin tells us:Actually, the interrelationshipsof worlds and planes in the novel -in Engelhardt's terms, "environment,""soil," and "earth" - are in no sensepresent in the novel as links in a unifieddialectical sequence, as stages along the pathin the evolution of a unified spirit. (p. 25).Apple pie used to believe in itself as an ultimate justification, but each attempt "would cancel out all preceding links as abstract and totally superseded." (p. 26).Privatization, as a movement to make resources like water a private commodity rather than a social good provided as a society sees a need to support areas or activities within its power to add or subtract, may succeed in changing society into a form of productive workers who accept little responsibility for anyone else, as in a song about:Going to a party in the center of the earthMonkey wash donkey rinseHoney, don't you want to go?Left eye, right eyeTake a look aroundEverybody's headingfor a hole in the groundWhat we live for now is parody:in contrast to stylization parodyintroduces into that discoursea semantic intention that isdirectly opposed to the originalone. The second voice, once havingmade its home in the other's discourse,clashes hostilely with its primordial hostand forces him to serve directly opposing aims.Discourse becomes an arena of battle betweentwo voices. In parody . . . the deliberatepalpability of the other's discourse must beparticularly sharp and clearly marked. (p. 193).Smart fellows have become sharp and extremely diverse.Analogous to parodistic discourseis ironic . . . use of someone else'swords; . . . conveying aspirationsthat are hostile to it. (p. 194).People who interact are constantly being driven crazy by expressions of doubt, indignation, irony, mockery, ridicule, and the like. Using "and the like" (p. 194) in this context exposes how people think.

I was trying to read the Pevear and Volokhonsky translation of what is also known in English as "The Possessed" and "Devils" and was having no end of understanding what Dostoevsky was trying to do or the way he was doing it. According to "Problems of Dostoevsky's Poetics" I was reading "Demons" the wrong way, as well as every other novel of Dostoevsky' I have read. According to Bakhtin, "[a] plurality of independent and unmerged voices and consciousnesses, a genuine polyphony of fully valid voices is in fact the chief characteristic of Dostoevsky's novels. What unfolds in his works is not a multitude of characters and fates in a single objective world, illuminated by a single authorial consciousness; rather a plurality of consciousnesses, with equal rights and each with its own world, combine but are not merged in the unity of the event." (p.6) The result, with the exception of the tacked on ending to "Crime and Punishment," is an open ended novel, that is a novel with no clearly fixed ending as in the novels of Turgenev and Tolstoy. Bakhtin uses them as foils to Dostoevsky.In the chapter "Characteristics of Genre" Bakhtin introduces the reader to carnivalized literature in history and in Dostoevsky.Bakhtin also includes a chapter titled "Discourse in Dostoevsky." It includes a very complete discussion of discourse, including Bakhtin's classification of the types of discourse.This is a very interesting and important book to read for a complete understanding of the way Dostoevsky created his novels, his novellas and some of his short stories. It is also a great introduction to Bakhtin's thought. He is not really a critic or a linguist but a philosopher of language.

The way this man thought makes me think in a fresh way. Literature, like any art, stands to been seen through this thinker's lens. Why? To walk away a little wiser, a little kinder, a little more interested in how great words on a page can dance.

Very important for literature students, persons studying Eastern Orthodox religious or spiritual studies. Bakhtin is the principal author of 'genre theory' in modern times. He certainly lifts lid on Dostoevsky's characters and their dialogue.

Brilliant critical theory from one of Soviet Russia's best literary minds. In additions, it's hard to be bored by an insightful study of Dostoyevsky.

Amazon provided me my first ever e-book for Kindle in a couple of seconds. This is so easy that it is even scary.

I am pleased to own a copy of Bakhtin's seminal work on Dostoevsky's fiction. It has been of substantial value for my research.

Book arrived ahead of schedule. Book meets expectations.

Entirely as expected

Always wanted to read this... Perfect delivery

Greatbook

Good quality copy at decent price. Interesting and clear account of Bakhtin’s pietics