Editorial

To Boris Schnaiderman (in memoriam)

We start the presentation of this third 2016 issue of Bakhtiniana by highlighting the interview with Boris Schnaiderman, who passed away on May 18, 2016. The interview was conducted by Geraldo Tadeu Souza (UFSCar) on December 18, 2008, and published in the book Bakhtin, dialogismo e polifonia [Bakhtin, Dialogism, and Polyphony] (BRAIT, B. (Ed.) Sao Paulo: Contexto, 2009, pp.225-239, with edition, introduction, and notes by the editor). Through this interview and the dialogue in which they were engaged, Boris Schnaiderman's voice resounds in Bakhtiniana, which pays tribute to a man who was well known for his ethics and generosity as well as for his dedication to intercultural aesthetics. He was one of the precursors of Bakhtin in Brazil, a fact that is confirmed in the syllabi of the first courses in Literary Theory and Comparative Literature at Universidade de São Paulo [Sao Paulo University] in the 1970s. By mapping the bibliographical references in the interview, we can see that Boris Schnaiderman paid constant attention to and disseminated Bakhtin's thinking. Due to all that he represented to Brazilian culture, Bakhtiniana not only recognizes that he was a great intellectual whose countless cultural contributions showed how close he was to Bakhtin's thinking, but also affectionately dedicates this issue to him.

Literature, the Bakhtin Circle's works, and especially the concept of dialogism are of main interest to the authors of the articles. From a more theoretical standpoint, based on the newly published translation of Patrick Sériot's preface to Vološinov's Marxism and the Philosophy of Language (MPL), Adail Sobral (UCPel) and Karina Giacomelli (UFPEL) discuss new aspects of MPL, its relevance and possible interpretations. They also suggest ways (dialogues) to understand literary phenomena, plastic arts, and even religious syncretism.

Four articles discuss the literary phenomenon in particular: Tatiana Bubnova's (UNAM) The Shot by Pushkin and The Duel by Conrad: A Cross-Cutting Dialogue in a Post-modern Field discusses the dialogical and polyphonic perspective between Pushkin's and Conrad's works and establishes interrelations that are based on the intersubjectivity and social attitudes of the works. In Bakhtin, Pushkin, and the Co-Creativity of Those Who Understand, Donald Wesling (UCSanDiego/California) uses Alexandr Pushkin's works in order to explain Bakhtin's concept of "creativity" / "co-creativity," thus showing how this concept contributes to interpret poetry as verbal art. João Carlos de Carvalho's (UFAC) Dialogism and the Baroque in Latin American Fiction in the Twentieth Century highlights the relationship between Bakhtin's dialogism and the Baroque so we can understand the origin and development of the prose and the novel in the West, particularly important fictional works in Latin America in the 20th century. In Apprehending Dom Casmurro through Criticism Posed to Novel and Television Micro-Series, Alexandre de Assis Monteiro (IFAM) and Luiz Antonio Mousinho (UFPB) bring Dom Casmurro into dialogue with television series and the critical fortune.

Meaning production in plastic arts, cultural practices, and early childhood is the aim of three other articles. Érika Sabino de Macêdo (UFES) and Priscila de Souza Chisté (IFES) investigate the work of plastic artist Rubens Gerchman and recommend reading his works based on the concepts of dialogism and polyphony. In Dialogism and syncretism: (re)definitions, José Gatti (UFSC) offers a very relevant discussion that will help us understand religious syncretism and syncretism in the analysis of cultural practices within the theoretical context suggested by dialogism. Nadja Maria Vieira's (UFAL) Ethics and Aesthetics in the Production of Sense in Early Childhood: A Reflection on the Simultaneity of the Past and Future in The Present explores some of Bakhtin's theoretical assumptions of literary analysis in everyday situations of meaning production when a mother and a baby interact.

Three other articles are not directly based on the Circle's conceptual framework. In Outlines of a Polonius Complex, Thiago Martins Prado (UNEB) articulates the characteristics of Shakespeare's Polonius in Hamlet with John Updike's counselor in the novel Gertrude and Claudius. In Representations of Science and Technology in Cordel Literature, Carla Almeida, Luisa Massarani (FIOCRUZ) and Ildeu de Castro Moreira (UFRJ) analyze 50 cordel texts,¹ pinpointing the way in which these popular forms of communication address the scientific universe and technological development. Finally, Maria Rosa Duarte de Oliveira's (PUC/SP) reflection in The Poetic Word in the Taking-Place of Language: Aesthetics, Ethics, and Politics, based on Alan Badiou, Giorgio Agamben, and Roland Barthes, is predominantly theoretical. The author's speculation on the nature and the function of the poetic word stems from the relationship she establishes between aesthetics, ethics, and politics.

As always, this issue also fulfills our objective to disseminate significant works in our area of knowledge. Published in 2015, Dick McCaw's Bakhtin and Theatre: Dialogues with Stanislavsky, Meyerhold and Grotowski is reviewed by Jean Carlos Gonçalves (UFPR) and Marcelo Cabarrão Santos (SEED-PR), Estudos discursivos à brasileira: uma introdução [Discursive Studies a la Brazil: An Introduction], edited by R. Baronas, is reviewed by Renata Coelho Marchezan (UNESP), and Ingedore Koch's last work, Introdução à linguística textual: trajetória e grandes temas [Introduction to Text Linguistics: Trajectory and Major Themes] is reviewed by Isabel Roboredo Seara (Universidade Nova de Lisboa).

We are happy to notice that once again the Brazilian and international discourse science is represented in these articles and book reviews. In this issue, there are authors from international universities (UNAM - Mexico, UCSanDiego - United States of America, and Universidade Nova de Lisboa - Portugal) and from universities in different states of Brazil: Acre (UFAC), Amazonas (IFAM), Alagoas (UFAL), Paraíba (UFPB), Espírito Santo (UFES/IFES), Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ and Fundação Oswaldo Cruz); São Paulo (PUC-SP), Paraná (UFPR and SEED-PR), and Santa Catarina (UFSC).

Once again, we would like to thank MCTI/CNPq/MEC/CAPES [Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation/Brazilian National Research Council/The Brazilian Ministry of Education/Brazilian Federal Agency for Support and Evaluation of Graduate Education] and PUC-SP (Pontifícia Universidade Católica de São Paulo) [Pontifical Catholic University of São Paulo), which, through the Deanship of Graduate Studies, has provided us with the necessary support to publish issues of Bakhtiniana. Revista de Estudos do Discurso by means of their Plano de Incentivo à Pesquisa [Research Incentive Plan] (PIPEq) / Publicação de Periódicos [Journal Publication] (PubPer-PUCSP) - 2015. We are certain that reading this issue is academically and scientifically productive.

• 1
  TN: Those texts are part of the cordel literature ("string literature"), which is commonly characterized by popular and cheap printed booklets containing novels, poems and song lyrics. They are generally produced and sold in fairs and by side street vendors in Northeast Brazil.
• Translated by Orison Marden Bandeira de Melo Júnior - [e-mail]
• Revised by Bruna Lopes-Dugnani - [e-mail]

Publication Dates

• Publication in this collection
  Sep-Dec 2016