“The Ability to Cognize and to Express Oneself”: Reflections on a Book on Dialogic Methods in Modern Humanities

Abstract

The aim of the article is to think over the Bakhtin’s role and the place of his ideas in the modern world. The reason for the authors’ reflection was the publi­cation of the essays collection “Inspired by Bakhtin: Dialogical Methods” (2018). Its participants tried to demonstrate how Bakhtin’s dialogism was imple­mented in various fields of humanities. The material of the history and theory of literature, Russian postmodern prose, Plato’s dialogues, sociology, psycho­analysis, European cinema and architectural design shows the effectiveness of dialogic methods. The article underlines the sufficient freedom of the re­searchers in their dealing with Bakhtin’s ideas. Sometimes it leads to the notice­able distance from his initial attitudes. This situation reflects one of the trends not only in Bakhtin studies, but in the humanities in the West. The dialogue with Bakhtin in the book is presented in the article in the context of the analysis of Bakhtin methodological discourse, given in his fragments, sketches and notes. The authors’ conclusion that the book complies with the general trend of con­temporary Bakhtin studies is confirmed by recently published books devoted to the study of Bakhtin’s heritage in literature, arts, psychology, philosophy of edu­cation and dialogical pedagogy.