Mikhail Bakhtin
Mikhail Bakhtin was a Russian philosopher and literary critic renowned for his work on dialogism and the concept of the carnivalesque. Born in 1895, Bakhtin's theories revolutionized literary criticism, emphasizing the social and interactive nature of language. His influential works, including "Rabelais and His World" and "The Dialogic Imagination," continue to impact literary and cultural studies worldwide. Despite facing political repression, his ideas gained prominence posthumously.
Book summaries for books written by Mikhail Bakhtin
Quotes
Carnival is a pageant without footlights and without a division into performers and spectators.
The world is turned upside down, and what is festive is taken seriously, and what is serious is taken festively.
The bodily element is deeply positive. It swallows up and gives back. It swallows up the spirit and symbolizes it.
The body is realized in a material and at the same time an ideal possibility.
Carnival is a social institution that, for the time being, reflects the structure and essence of a future social order, of a future social order.
Carnival does not acknowledge any distinction between actors and spectators.
Carnival is the people's second life.
Carnival laughter is the laughter of all the people. At the same time, it is not universal, but particular.
The body, the material bodily principle, is the last bulwark of the freedom that is opposed to the abstract ideals of the official truth, which is institutionalized in the world.
Carnival is the people's feast.
Carnival is not a spectacle seen by the people; they live in it, and everyone participates because its very idea embraces all the people.
Carnival is the life of the people, the life of the people, the life of the people.