Dialogue And Dialogism

The set of problems that surrounds the general topic of this issue, the relationship between fiction and reality in the novel, recurs in many forms to organize contemporary theories of narration well of the relationship between narrative, discursive and poetic language. Much is at stake, stylistically, philosophically and historically, in these discussions whose importance, not only in the realm of theory butt also in the practical sphere of ethics and politics, is superseded only by their difficulty. The higher the stakes the harder the game. Such situations, conducive to obsession and to fatigue, are prone to generate legitimate admiration with regard to predecessors who have somehow managed to sustain the ordeal of these difficulties and to bequeath to us some of the skills and strategies gained in the course of this experience. Literary theory, and especially theory of narrative, a rather barren area of endeavor constantly threatened by the tedium of its techniques well by the magnitude of the issues, offers poor soil for the heroes and the hero-worship that it rather desperately needs. So when a possible candidate for such a status comes along, he is likely to be very well received, especially if he is safely and posthumously out of reach. Such belated receptions, for being rare, are all the more intense in the field of literary theory. A fairly recent example is, of course, the case of Walter Benjamin. More recent, and more intense still, is that of Mikhail Bakhtin, who was recently heralded, by his highly competent and clear-eyed introducers, plus important penseur sovietique dans le domaine des sciences humaines et le plus grand thdoricien de la litterature au 20me siecle (the most important Soviet thinker in the area of the human sciences and the greatest literary theorist of the twentieth century) (Todorov), and as one of the leading thinkers of the 20th century (Michael Holquist). In both cases, this entirely justified admiration is focussed on Bakhtin's contribution