THE FAD FOR BRINGING BAKHTIN DOWN (AND WHERE IT GOES WRONG)

Abstract

Any boom calls forth a backlash and a trashing - and Bakhtin has been trashed often, for many reasons. In this article I consider the recent biography of Bakhtin written by Aleksei Korovashko in the history of anti-Bakhtinistics, and attempt to evaluate the “Korovashko tactic”: where, in my view, it goes wrong, and what lessons we might learn from it in light of Bakhtin’s teaching (especially his theory of love). I then discuss two more productive approaches to criticizing Bakhtin: one devoted to Bakhtin and the body (Dick McCaw), the other to Bakhtin and the spirit (Mikhail Epstein).