The literary work as dialogue and relationship

The intention of this article is to present the results of a collective scientific research project in the theory of literature that was carried out in a period of more than ten years (2011–2022) on the topic “Dialogism of the literary work”. These results determined another collective contribution in the theory of literary criticism. By the notion of “scientific project” we understand the PhD thesis (Aliona Grati) and other four doctoral theses (Oxana Popa, Elisaveta Iovu-Macari, Diana Dementieva, Rodica Gotca), which were carried out in the same research direction and a collective monograph. The objective of this vast project was to present the development directions of dialogic theory/aesthetics and dialogism that Mikhail Bakhtin imposed on the international circuit. The scientist insisted on the idea that the literary work is the aesthetic area for the full unfolding of dialogic relationships, thus foreshadowing a paradigm in the research of 20th century literature. The doctoral theses presented how dialogic theory was approached within some theoretical schools and systems, as well as by some brand personalities. These researches constituted pretexts for the theorization of five new models of literary criticism that grew from the stem of dialogism: Dialogic, Imagology, Sociocriticism, Criticism oriented towards the reader, Ergocriticism. They aim at modern, complex and layered literary works that represent the existence and the world with human voices in dialogue, with texts in relation and with systems in relation.