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

This book is not only a major twentieth-century contribution to Dostoevsky s studies, but also one of the most important theories of the novel produced in our century. As a modern reinterpretation of poetics, it bears comparison with Aristotle. Bakhtin s statement on the dialogical nature of artistic creation, and his differentiation of this from a history of monological commentary, is profoundly original and illuminating. This is a classic work on Dostoevsky and a statement of importance to critical theory. Edward Wasiolek Concentrating on the particular features of Dostoevskian discourse, how Dostoevsky structures a hero and a plot, and what it means to write dialogically, Bakhtin concludes with a major theoretical statement on dialogue as a category of language. One of the most important theories of the novel in this century. The Bloomsbury Review