Mikhail Bakhtin An Aesthetic for Democracy

This book makes a radical break with earlier interpretations of Bakhtin'swork. Using recent Russian scholarship, Kenneth Hirschkop explodes many of themyths which have surrounded Bakhtin and his work and lays the ground for a new,more historically acute sense of his achievement. Through a comprehensivereading of Bakhtin's work, Hirschkop demonstrates that his discussion of thephilosophy of language, literary history, popularfestive culture, and thephenomenology of everyday life revolved around a lifelong search for a new kindof modern ethical culture. A detailed examination of the major works reveals thecareful interweaving of philosophical and historical argument which makesBakhtin at once so compelling and so frustrating a writer. Hirschkop treatsBakhtin not as a metaphysician or a philosopher for the ages, but as a writerinevitably drawn into the historical conflicts produced by a modernizing anddemocratizing Europe. As a consequence, Bakhtin becomes a more sober but alsomore original writer, with a striking contribution to make to the definition ofthe democratic project.

Ken Hirschkop is Lecturer in English Literature, University of Manchester.