Editorial

There are some ephemeral events in 2015 that are very significant to those who study language from a dialogical perspective. Among them, we immediately highlight Mikhaïl M. Bakhtin's and Valentin N. Voloshinov's birthday. These two renowned thinkers of the Circle were born in 1895 and if alive would be celebrating their 120^thbirthday. We should also call attention to the publication of the first Russian edition of some important works: Rabelais and his World(Творчество франсуа РабЛе и народная кyЛЬтура средневековЬя и ренессанса), published in 1965 (50 years ago); Questions of Literature and Aesthetics(ВопросЫ ЛитературЫ и эстетики: иссЛедования разнЫх Лет), the collection of classical essays, such as The Problem of Content, Material, and Form in Verbal Art (пробЛема содержания, матepиаЛa и формЫ в cЛовесном), Discourse in the Novel (СЛово в романе), From the Prehistory of Novelistic Discourse (Из предЫстории романного сЛова), Epic and Novel: Toward a Methodology for the Study of the Novel (Эпос и роман(О методоЛогии иссЛедования романа)),¹ Rabelais and Gogol: The Art of Discourse and the Popular Culture of Laughter (РабЛе и ГогоЛЬ(Искусство сЛова и народная смеховая куЛЬтура)),² published in 1975 (40 years ago); On Mayakovsky,³ published in 1995 (20 years ago) under the title of Sketch for an Article on V. V. Mayakovisky in Dialog. Karnaval. Khronotop [Dialogue. Carnival. Chronotope] by V. V. Kójonov (Наброскам к статЬе о Маяковском). In 1975, precisely 40 years ago, M. M. Bakhtin died in Moscow.

These events provide the backdrop for Bakhtiniana's present issue [10 (2)]. As we recognize that the members of the Circle were committed to discussing language phenomena without prescinding from ethics and aesthetics, we called for papers that present studies or reflections on language, ethics, and aesthetics, the theme that traverses the Circle's entire work. However, we accepted papers (as we normally do) that adopted not only a dialogical approach to discourse, but other theoretical discursive approaches as well.

In response to this intriguing call, a large number of papers written by researchers from Brazil and abroad were submitted. Out of the submissions, eight articles and two book reviews were selected by the members of our editorial boards, to whom we are very thankful for their constant and inestimable work. They peer reviewed papers written in Portuguese and in English that represent 11 universities (nine from Brazil and two from other countries).

The first two articles mostly discuss theoretical issues. The very first article, entitled What Could the "Great Time" Mean?, was written by Tatiana Bubnova, a professor at Universidad Nacional Autónoma do México (UNAM) [National Autonomous University of Mexico], who is widely known and renowned for translating and studying Bakhtin's works. In this article she discusses a fundamental and very complex concept that we find in the works of the Circle, i.e., "Great Time." She considers its ethical and aesthetic aspects and places them in dialogue with personal and professional experiences. The second article, Dialogic Clash between Reading and Writing: Manifestation of Discourse Ethics Based on the Bakhtin Circle, by Angela Fanini (Universidade Tecnológica Federal do Paraná/UTFPR) [Federal University of Technology - Parana] discusses the relationship between reading and writing. Based on the understanding of the philosophical dimension of the Circle's key concepts, the author shows the discursive-dialogical ethics of the reading/writing process.

Another set of articles discusses ethical-aesthetic-cultural issues regarding music, media communication, and literature. In terms of popular culture, the article The Samba Controversy between Noel Rosa and Wilson Batista: Intertextuality and the Meanders of Composition by Mônica L. S. Fernandes (Universidade Estadual do Paraná/UNESPAR) [State University of Paraná], Leandro M. da Luz (Faculdade Integrada de Campo Mourão/CIES) [Integrated College of Campo Mourão], and Bruno F. L. Fagundes (Universidade Estadual do Paraná/UNESPAR) [State University of Paraná] discusses interesting aspects related to music and the history of Brazil during Getulio Vargas's years in power. From a different perspective on music, the article The Role of Music in Work Activities by Ana Raquel Motta (Faculdade de Campinas/ FACAMP; Pontifícia Universidade Católica de São Paulo/ PUCSP) [Campinas College; Pontifical Catholic University of São Paulo] shows the relationship between music and work in an innovative way. The article Notes on an Aesthetics of Trauma in Brazil by João Kogawa e Anderson Salvaterra Magalhães (Universidade Federal de São Paulo/UNIFESP) [Federal University of São Paulo] promotes a dialogue between French post-war culture and the culture of drug trafficking in Rio de Janeiros's slums. It focuses on the ethical and aesthetic aspects of women's hair shearing, a punishment for delation, which although distanced by time, is perversely reinvented. Still in this set, the article by Luiz Gonzaga Marchezan (Universidade Estadual Paulista "Júlio de Mesquita Filho"/UNESP-Araraquara) [São Paulo State University], entitled Voices in Machado de Assis's Short Story about a Fire in Montevideo, examines the different voices found in Machado de Assis's short story Um incêndio [A Fire], disclosing original dialogues between personages of high importance in Brazilian cultural and literary life.

The last two articles discuss issues on education and digital networks. Through dialogical lenses, Viviane Pires Viana Silvestre (Universidade Estadual de Goiás/UEG) [State University of Goiás], Carla Janaína Figueredo (Universidade Federal de Goiás/UFG) [Federal University of Goiás], and Rosane Rocha Pessoa (Universidade Federal de Goiás/UFG) [Federal University of Goiás], the authors of the article Ethics in the Bakhtinian Perspective and in Critical English Language Teacher Education: a Practicum Experience, reflect on this unique experience of practicum training. And based on Roland Barthes's concept of mythology and on the works of other thinkers, Cristian Berrio-Zapata, Fábio Mosso Moreira, and Ricardo César Gonçalves Sant'Ana (Universidade Estadual Paulista "Júlio de Mesquita Filho"/UNESP, Marília) [São Paulo State University "Júlio de Mesquita Filho"] establish a pertinent and original connection between digital networks and mythicizing processes.

Finally, this issue of Bakhitniana presents two book reviews of recently published works that, under a theoretical and practical perspective, are directly connected to language, ethics, and aesthetics, the theme of this issue: La palabra y el puño: perfiles de la retórica nazista en el Mein Kampf de Adolfo Hitler [The Word and the Fist: Approaches to Nazi Rhetoric in Adolfo Hitler's Mein Kampf] by Gerardo Ramírez Vidal and Discurso citado e memória - Ensaio bakhtiniano sobre Infância e São Bernardo [Reported Discourse and Memory: Bakhtinian Essay on Childhood and São Bernardo: A Novel]

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) for providing us with the necessary support to publish another issue of Bakhtiniana. Revista de Estudos do Discurso. We are certain of the academic and scientific productivity of this reading.

• Translated by Orison Marden Bandeira de Melo Júnior – [e-mail]
• 1
  TN. The essays Epic and Novel, From the Prehistory of Novelistic Discourse, and Discourse in the Novel were published in The Dialogic Imagination(BAKHTIN, M. The Dialogic Imagination. Translated by Caryl Emerson and Michael Holquist. Austin, TX: University of Texas Press, 1981). The essay The Problem of Content, Material, and Form in Verbal Art was published in Art and Answerability (BAKHTIN, M. Art and Answerability. Translated by Kenneth Brostrom. Austin, TX: University of Texas Press, 1990).
• 2
  TN. This essay was translated by Patricia Sollner and published in the journal Mississippi Review (BAKHTIN, M. Rabelais and Gogol: The Art of Discourse and the Popular Culture of Laughter. Mississippi Review, v. 11, n. 3, pp. 34-50, Winter/Spring, 1983. Available at: <http://www.jstor.org/stable/20133922>. Access on: July 01, 2015).
• 3
  The reference for the Portuguese translation of On Mayakovsky: BAKHTIN, M. M. Sobre Maiakóvski. In: BRAIT, B.(org.) Bakhtin: dialogismo e polifonia. Translated by Fátima Bianchi. São Paulo: Contexto, 2009, p.191-203.

Publication Dates

• Publication in this collection
  May-Aug 2015