Speech Genres And Other Late Essays

Speech Genres and Other Late Essays University of Texas Press Slavic Series, No. 8 General Editor Advisory Board Michael Holquist Robert L. Belknap Hugh McLean John Bowk Sidney Monas Edward J. Brown I. R. Titunik Victor Erlich Edward Wasiolek Robert L. Jackson Rene Wellek Speech Genres and Other Late Essays M. M. BAKHTIN Translated by Vern W. McGee Edited by Caryl Emerson and Michael Holquist UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS PRESS, AUSTIN Copyright © 1986 by the University of Texas Press All rights reserved Printed in the United States of America Twelfth paperback printing, 2010 Requests for permission to reproduce material from this work should be sent to: Permissions University of Texas Press P.O. Box 7819 Austin, TX 78713-7819 www.utexas.edu/utpress/about/bpermission.html ©The paper used in this book meets the minimum requirements of ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992 (R1997) (Permanence of Paper). Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Bakhtin, M. M. (Mikhail Mikhailov ch), 1895-1975. Speech genres and other late essays. (University of Texas Press Slavic series ; no. 8) Translation of: Éstetika slovesnogo tvorchestva. Includes bibliographies and index. 1. Philology. I. Holquist, Michael, 1935II. Emerson, Caryl. III. Title. IV. Series. P49.B2813 1986 410 86-11399 ISBN 978-0-292-77560-2 Contents Note on Translation vii Introduction by Michael Holquist ix Response to a Question from the Novy Mir Editorial Staff / The Btldungsroman and Its Significance in the History of Realism (Toward a Historical Typology of the Novel) 10 The Problem of Speech Genres 60 The Problem of the Text in Linguistics, Philology, and the Human Sciences: An Experiment in Philosophical Analysis 103 From Notes Made in 1970-71 132 Toward a Methodology for the Human Sciences 159 Index 173 This page intentionally left blank Note on Translation This translation has benefited a great deal from being among the last rather than the first translations of Bakhtin's work. I have been able to take advantage of the careful consideration previous translators have given to many of the problematic terms and concepts that are so plentiful in Bakhtin's theory. In most cases I have borrowed the terms used in previous translations in the Slavic Series, such as “heteroglossia” (raznorechie), "speech" (rech), and "discourse" (slovo), among others, not only for the sake of consistency throughout the series but because I believe they are good choices. The essays offered in this volume also contain many of their own perplexing words and concepts, such as "outsideness" (vnenakhodimosi), which have never before appeared in translation—or in Russian for that matter. On these I have consulted with both native Russian speakers and recognized Bakhtin scholars. In each case the options were weighed carefully, and the one most appropriate in style and tone as well as the closest in meaning was chosen. With respect to style, I believe these essays show Bakhtin at his most Bakhtinian. The rough, unfinished quality that comes through in his previously translated work is even more in evidence here, because most of these essays were not actually prepared by Bakhtin for publication. They show more the process of his thought than the final product. I have attempted to convey this quality in the translation. The transliteration system is a modification of the International Phonetic Alphabet: those letters requiring a hachek have been changed to the variants that use the letter "h"—"zh,” "ch,” "sh,” "shch"; the IPA “c” is rendered as "ts" and the "x" as "kh." Proper names are rendered as they ordinarily are or would be spelled in English (e.g., Tolstoy, Dostoevsky). V. W. McG. For much of the material in the notes, we are indebted t