Japanese Journal of Qualitative Psychology
Online ISSN : 2435-7065
Concordant and Diverse Voices
Appropriate Distance is Indispensable to Dialogic Activity
Takashi Kuwano
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2008 Volume 7 Issue 1 Pages 6-20

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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.
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© 2008 Japanese Association of Qualitative Psychology
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