VALENTIN NIKOLAIEVITCH VOLOSHINOV: DOCUMENTED DETAILS OF HIS LIFE AND WORKS ¹

ABSTRACT:

In this article, we report on and describe findings from our research, conducted at the St. Petersburg Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences Archives, where we consulted documents from the Institute of Comparative History of Literatures and Languages of East and West (ILIAZV), and where Valentin Nikolaievitch Voloshinov worked between 1925 and 1932. The bibliographic research allowed us to understand the academic, and even personal, trajectory of this author, during the period in which he wrote Marxism and the philosophy of language and Fundamental problems with the sociological method in the science of language, among other works. The primary findings of this archival consultation include: a strong presence of Marxist theory in various activities of the ILIAZV; the participation of Voloshinov in those activities; Voloshinov's work in the sector of literature methodology; the presence of themes of works by Medvedev and Bakhtin, found in Voloshinov's reports to the ILIAZV; the recognition of Voloshinov's academic merits by ILIAZV researchers; Voloshinov's work methods; and, finally, changes in Soviet academic institutions between 1925 and 1932.

KEYWORDS:
Voloshinov; Bakhtin circle; ILIAZV archives