Mikhail Bakhtin

This biography tackles one of literary theory's most complex and mercurial minds, charting Mikhail Bakhtin's intellectual journey across six decades of dramatic shifts, returns to abandoned ideas, and unexpected developments. Morson wisely cautions readers against seeking a single, unified theory in a thinker whose work actively resists such neat categorization, instead presenting a portrait of a philosopher in constant, dynamic dialogue with his own evolving ideas. The book meticulously traces how Bakhtin’s key concepts—from dialogism and the carnivalesque to heteroglossia—emerged not from a linear progression but from a lifetime of intellectual re-evaluation and creative recurrence.

What makes this study so compelling is its refusal to simplify Bakhtin’s often contradictory legacy, instead embracing the very dialogic principle that defined his work. Readers seeking a definitive guide to a fixed system of thought may find the lack of a singular thesis challenging, but those interested in the messy, living process of intellectual creation will discover a profoundly honest representation. By honoring the complexity of Bakhtin’s development, Morson provides not just an explanation of the theories, but an experience of the thinking itself, offering a crucial text for students of literary criticism and philosophy ready to engage with a truly polyphonic mind.