The Opening of Borders: Performing Arts and the Bakhtin Circle

To be, or not to be - that is the question.

W. Shakespeare ¹

Bakhtiniana 14 (3) presents a dialogue between the Bakhtinian oeuvre and theater. In CNPq’s [Brazilian National Research Council] classification of the areas of knowledge, the study of theater is in the area of Arts, which is under the Area of Linguistics, Languages (languages and literatures) and Arts. Theater is divided into dramaturgy, theater direction, scenography, and theater interpretation. It is known that this classification has an eminently practical objective; therefore, it does not aim to create precise (or “uncrossable”) borders between areas, disciplines and specializations. Jean Carlos Gonçalves and Dick McCaw, our ad hoc editors, are dedicated and competent scholars of the Bakhtinian approach and the arts of theater. Therefore, in the beginning of their Editorial, they declare that the “universe of performing arts,” present in the articles published in this issue, is broader than theater itself. In this sense, it “embraces the fields of body, theater, dance, performance, circus, drama and scenic history, production and technologies (among others)” (p.5).

Taking this “broader” view of theater into consideration, at least two aspects can be highlighted. On the one hand, they place dance and, consequently, its subareas of dance performance and choreography under the “umbrella” of theater. Although this naturally does not encompass all that this perspective seeks to cover, such as education and scene technologies, it is possible to notice the many specific areas that actually intersect in the purview of these performing arts. On the other hand, as they attempt to explain this broader perspective of theater, it is possible to think that Hamlet’s well-known dilemma, which is evoked in the epigraph and which reminds us of the importance to act, make decisions, take an existential, ethical and aesthetic position before events and knowledge itself, could be placed in a (seemingly polemic) dialogue with the well-known verses of Brazilian writer Mário de Andrade: “I am three hundred, three hundred and fifty” (2000, p.143).² Not seldom, however, especially in creation and research, is it necessary to face the multiplicity of otherness that involves and characterizes language events and their historical and aesthetic dynamics, which seems to be the case of the different research objects that are analyzed in this issue.

Still another aspect, which is very innovative to the study of “performing arts,” is the approach adopted, although not exclusively, for the investigation: the writings of Bakhtin and the Circle, which had been little referenced until recently. In fact, it seems that the Bakhtinian thinking provides a rich source of reflections, concepts and knowledge that help understand the constitution of the chosen objects of study, placing the three areas of Linguistics, Languages and Arts in dialogue: Linguistics, especially the one related to discourse; Languages, the area that includes the repertoire of universal dramaturgy and literary studies, and, in a broad sense, Arts. However, these boundaries are still open toward interdisciplinarity, in which Education is certainly accentuated, as “[e]ach word (each sign) of the text exceeds its boundaries. Any understanding is a correlation of a given text with other texts” (BAKHTIN, 1986, p.161).³

Based on this dialogic and interdisciplinary perspective, Bakhtiniana 14(3) brings nine articles and one book review, written by 15 authors who represent seven Brazilian universities⁴ (UFPR - 7 authors; USP - 3 authors; PUC-SP - 1 author; UNESPAR - 1 author; UNIVALI/SC - 1 author; UTFPR - 2 authors; UNIANDRADE - 1 author) and one foreign university, the Royal Holloway, University of London. We invite you, our readers, not only to read these texts, but also to include them in your research, as they once again provide Bakhtiniana with the opportunity to actively participate in the cultural and academic life of Brazil and abroad.

A high number of submissions and their rigorous selection by competent reviewers (ad hoc and members of our board of reviewers) allowed us to have this excellent result. Internationalization and visibility are demands from research development agencies, PUC-SP [Pontifical Catholic University of São Paulo], and SciELO/Scientific Eletronic Library Online. This is why Bakhtiniana remains steadfast in its commitment to promoting dialogical possibilities between national and international research devoted to language studies. In this sense, we are immensely grateful for the precious support, assistance and recognition from MCTI [Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation]/CNPq [Brazilian National Research Council]/MEC [The Brazilian Ministry of Education]/ CAPES [Brazilian Federal Agency for Support and Evaluation of Graduate Education] and PUC-SP, through their Plano de Incentivo à Pesquisa [Research Incentive Plan] (PIPEq) / Publicação de Periódicos [Journal Publication] (PubPer-PUCSP) - 2019, especially at this difficult moment for education in Brazil.

• Translated by Orison Marden Bandeira de Melo Júnior - [e-mail]
• 1
  SHAKESPEARE, W. Hamlet, Prince of Denmark. Edited by Philip Edwards. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003. p. 158.
• 2
  SUÁREZ, J.; TOMLINS, J. Mário De Andrade: The Creative Works. Lewisburg, PA: Bucknell University Press, 2000.
• 3
  BAKHTIN, M. Toward a Methodology for the Human Sciences. In: BAKHTIN, M. Speech Genres and Other Late Essays. Edited by Caryl Emerson and Michael Holquist; translated by Vern W. McGee. Austin, TX: University of Texas Press, 1986.pp. 159-172.
• 4
  Some authors work for more than one university.

REFERÊNCIAS

• ANDRADE, M. de. Eu sou trezentos... In: Remate de Males. Poesias completas 4.ed. São Paulo: Livraria Martins Editora, 1974, p.221
• BAKHTIN, M. Por uma metodologia das ciências Humanas. In: BAKHTIN, M. Notas sobre literatura, cultura e ciências humanas Org., trad., posfácio e notas Paulo Bezerra. Notas da edição russa Serguei Botcharov. São Paulo: Ed. 34, p.57-80, p.66.
• SHAKESPEARE. W. Hamlet Ato III, Cena I. In: William Shakespeare. Teatro completo Trad. Barbara Heliodora. Rio de Janeiro: Nova Aguilar, 2018.

Publication Dates

• Publication in this collection
  05 Aug 2019
• Date of issue
  Jul-Sep 2019