Abstract
In this essay, I compare Bakhtin's works of the late 1920s and 1930s, particularly Problems of Dostoevsky's Art (1929),
with his works of the early 1960s, particularly Problems of Dostoevsky's Poetics (1963), in order to re-evaluate the
dynamics of his notions of polyphony, dialogue and voice. In this regard, the comparison shows that there are
substantial differences between these texts. First, the sociological line of reasoning that was remarkable in the late
1920s and 1930s is suppressed in the works of the early 1960s. Second, while in the late 1920s and 1930s Bakhtin
laid stress on the importance of raznoglasie [diverse voices], by the early 1960s he came to regard soglasie [concordant
voices] as important as raznoglasie. It should also be added that the significance of dialogic activity in polyphony
and dialogue is emphasized throughout Problems of Dostoevsky's Poetics. All of these observations make it clear that
the point of Bakhtin's dialogism is that access to penetrative dialogue is possible only by dialogic activity that
maintains appropriate distance.
