Issues Pertaining to М.М. Bakhtin’s Biography and Scientific Work

This is what might be called a peculiar kind of biography of M. M. Bakhtin, an outstanding literary critic and thinker. The book covers the period of his life from the late 1930s to the early 1940s. It gives an account of how he wrote his book on Francois Rabelais and submitted it as a dissertation for a doctoral degree, and interprets certain aspects of his theory of carnival. It also investigates Bakhtin’s correspondence with B.V. Zalessky, V.V. Kozhinov, and V.N. Turbin. The archival materials form the documentary basis of the book.

For all who are interested in the problems of literary criticism and the fate of 20st century culture.