Mikhail Bakhtin Between Phenomenology and Marxism [Paperback]

Exploration of the ambivalent philosophic foundation of the work of Bakhtin and contemporary critics.This examination of developments in phenomenological and materialist theory provides a contextualized study of Bakhtin as well as a critique of the problems of contemporary criticism. It examines philosophical impasses neglected or ignored in previous studies of his work.This examination of developments in phenomenological and materialist theory provides a contextualized study of Bakhtin as well as a critique of the problems of contemporary criticism. It examines philosophical impasses neglected or ignored in previous studies of his work.The work of Mikhail Bakhtin does not fall neatly under a single rubric, because its philosophical foundation rests ambivalently between phenomenology and Marxism. The theoretical tension between these two positions creates philosophical impasses in Bakhtin's work, which have been neglected or ignored in previous studies of Bakhtin. Michael Bernard-Donals examines developments in phenomenological and materialist theory, providing a contextualized study of Bakhtin, a critique of the problems of contemporary criticism, and an original contribution to literary theory.Preface; 1. Problems with formalism; 2. Neo-Kantianism and phenomenology; 3. Reception and hermeneutics: the search for ideology; 4. The Marxist texts; 5. Science and ideology; 6. Science, praxis, and change; 7. Bakhtin, the problem of knowledge and literary studies; bibliography; index.