Development of the Bakhtinian Concept of Polyphony

Abstract

In Problems of Dostoevsky’s Poetics, Bakhtin defines Dostoevsky as the creator of the polyphonic novel. We intend to review in this paper the development of the concept of polyphony, defined as the position of maximum distance between the author and the characters in a never-ending dialogue. Dialogism, essence of the Bakhtinian discourse theory, reiterates the subject’s presence in the communication, which is not seen merely as the transmission of information, but as verbal or non-verbal interaction. Individuals are built from interaction and through interaction. Discourses built from other discourses are never concluded and, therefore, texts have many voices. These voices must be equipollent in polyphony. According to Bakhtin, polyphony is an essential part of all enunciations, since different voices are expressed in a same text, and every discourse is built by several discourses. We only understand enunciations when we react to words that awaken in us ideological and/or individual echoes. The reality of signs is objective and it can be studied. Bakhtin calls this study metalinguistics, which is the study of bivocal discourse that inevitably arises under the conditions of dialogical communication and goes beyond linguistic study.