The Pleasure of the Word: Literary Discourse and Other Discourses

But for us, who are neither knights of the faith nor supermen, it only remains, so to speak, to cheat with the language, cheat the language. This salutary cheating, this evasion, this magnificent deception that allows language to be heard outside of power, in the splendor of a permanent revolution in language, I call it, as far as I am concerned: literature.¹

Roland Barthes

The novel can be defined as a diversity of social speech types (sometimes even diversity of languages) and a diversity of individual voices, artistically organized.²

Mikhail Bakhtin

All content of Bakhtiniana. Revista de Estudos do Discurso is licensed under a Creative Commons attribution-type CC-BY 4.0

“How are language and literature arranged on the shelves of life?” This is the initial question of the presentation of the book by Brait (2010, p.11), Literatura e outras linguagens [Literature and other languages]. And this question, with a slight alteration, is quite pertinent in this beautiful issue of Bakhtiniana (17.3): how are the discursive studies of literature and other languages arranged in this volume? We have five articles that deal with the discourse of art - literature, theater, and cinema, one article that addresses the journalistic sphere, and one more, a review, which closes the issue, that examines digital discourses.

It is known and widely disseminated that the works of Mikhail Bakhtin and the Circle provide theoretical support not only for the study of literature, as was initially believed. This is because the release of Problemas da Poética de Dostoiévski [Problems in Dostoevsky’s Poetics]³ in Brazil in 1981 clearly pointed, in the title, to literature. A little earlier, however, in 1979 in Brazil, we had already had the release of the first edition of Marxismo e filosofia da linguagem. Problemas fundamentais do método sociológico na filosofia da linguagem [Marxism and the Philosophy of Language. Fundamental Problems of the Sociological Method in the Philosophy of Language]⁴ still with the authorship attributed to Bakhtin (Vološinov). It is true that in the work published in Brazil in 1981,⁵ the study of F. Dostoevsky’s work stood out, but questions about discourse, about the complementarity between discursive studies and those of linguistics -metalinguistics -, and about genres, for example, were very clearly placed there and appealing to the gaze of language/discourse scholars. On the other hand, in the work that arrived in Brazil in 1979,⁶ the focus was on “language,” but all the examples and the entire third part dedicated to the reported speech and the way in which it is presented in the utterance (“study in the Application of the Sociological Method to the Problem of Syntax”)⁷ was filled with literary excerpts from various authors of Russian, French, German literature...

We can see, then, that language in movement, discourse and literature go together in the work of the Circle, and it is in the Bakhtinian theory of the novel that we can find the key to this “unquestionable partnership,” especially in the essays found in the collection Questões de literatura e de estética (A teoria do romance)⁸ [Questions of Literature and Aesthetics (The Theory of the Novel)].⁹ In those texts, Bakhtin reflects on how the author of the novel in his creations gets hold of the social and axiological stratification of language; of how romanesque prose is created from the variety of discourses, languages existing in each language, voices as an axiological posture, and individual styles and genres. The different voices and positions in life are present, therefore, in literary art.

This is how language and literature constitute this issue of Bakhtiniana. Revista de Estudos do Discurso [Bakhtiniana. Journal of Discourse Studies]. Our authors mobilized theoretical and methodological foundations from different sources in the study not only of texts that present the “maximum flavor possible” (Barthes, 2007, p.45), but also of those who call upon our ethical duty to understand life and society. We would say, however, that, in one way or another, in language studies, we all focus on texts in the search for pleasure (and bliss, as Barthes would say in The Pleasure of the Text, 1975)¹⁰ provided by the word, which makes us understand the “I-for-myself, the other-for-me, and the I-for-the-other”;¹¹ to understand aesthetics in its connection with life and science in the unity of human culture.

It follows that there would be numerous ways to present the articles in the issue. We decided, however, to start with two in which ethical reflections – quite closely linked to aesthetics – stand out. Thus, the first text of this issue analyzes a chronicle by Clarice Lispector - “Mineirinho,” produced in 1962, after the death of a known criminal. Dênia Moreira Andrade and Maria José Oliveira Araújo Guerra, both Masters of Arts by the Pontifícia Universidade Católica de Minas Gerais – PUC Minas [Pontificate Catholic University of Minas Gerais – PUC Minas], in “The World’s (Trans)Figuration by the Act-Word of/in ‘Mineirinho,’” approach the philosophical perspective of Mikhail Bakhtin to Clarice’s literature, inviting us to think actively and responsibly about our being and existing in the world. According to the authors:

Clarice looks at Mineirinho and offers him a place, without demanding reciprocity. We look at the word-act performed in the chronicle-tale in a movement of disorganization to try to understand how literature, as an aesthetic process (human action), makes us understand ourselves, the contemporary world, the silent word of Mineirinho and other unknowns that, in silence, reach us (p.34).

The following article, “Law Against Rights? A Controversy in São Francisco Square Written in Folha de S. Paulo: Critical-Discursive Reflections,” written by Viviane de Melo Resende, Universidade de Brasília – UnB [University of Brasília], dialogues with the first as it also concerns for the excluded / marginalized ones, understood here as the homeless population in the city of São Paulo. As part of a larger project to examine the representation of public policies for this population, the text analyzes a debate in this regard in the journalistic sphere, through the theoretical lens of critical discourse studies and interdiscursive analysis of public policies. The analysis of metaphors, dehumanizing representations and focus “on territory when faced with suffering, negation and routine violence from the violation of rights” (p.61) lead us to reflect deeper (and more compassionately) upon this profound social problem.

From São Paulo we leave for Amazonas and return to the literary discourse with the study of two chronicles by Milton Hatoum, by David Costa de Souza, Juciane dos Santos Cavalheiro and Márcio Leonel Farias Reis Easter, the three of them from Universidade do Estado do Amazonas – UEA [State University of Amazonas – UEA], in the article: “Crônicas by Milton Hatoum: Dialogism and Emancipation in Postmodernity.” It is based on Mikhail Bakhtin’s dialogic perspective combined with Boaventura Santos’ epistemological perspective on the waste of social experience in modernity/post-modernity. The authors approach Hatoum’s texts from a counter-hegemonic and responsive perspective of literary representation, evidencing possible relationships between the socio-historical-economic discourse produced by the critique of modernity/post-modernity and Hatoum’s literary production.

In the following article, illuminating the discourse of the seventh art, Silma Ramos Coimbra Mendes and Maria Cecília Pérez de Souza-e-Silva, both from Pontifícia Universidade Católica de São Paulo – PUC-SP [Pontificate Catholic University of São Paulo – PUC-SP], sign “Scenography, Setting and Ethical World in Jogo de Cena [Scene Game]: a Discursive Approach.” The article analyzes Eduardo Coutinho’s 2007 documentary, Jogo de cena, based on concepts of discourse analysis formulated by Dominique Maingueneau, such as interdiscourse, scenography and discursive ethos. By examining the “alleged neutrality” in the speech scenes of the interviews with women who tell and/or enact stories about their lives, unknown women and famous actresses, the authors infer a respectful and attentive ethos of the interviewer and arrive at “a comforting silence.”

In the next text, it is the ritual theater of Werewere Liking Gnepo, writer, playwright and performer, born in Cameroon, Africa, that Thaynara Henrique Vieira Lourenço from Universidade de Brasília – UnB [University of Brasília – UnB], presents to us from a dialogic perspective in the article “From Dialogism to Polyphonic Aesthetics in Werewere-Liking Gnepo’s Ritual Theater Didascalias.” The author exposes and discusses, in the Werewere theater, how the playwright appropriates the dialogism of tradition and gives it new roles, especially in the way M.S. (Mise-en-scène) becomes a character, bringing the presence of multiple voices to the text with different referential perspectives and will to the world. Undoubtedly, the reading of the article, in addition to the analytical aspects presented, transports us to a little-known culture, and to an African author - a “multidisciplinary creator” whose cultural initiatives are “at the service of the social cause of the underprivileged, out-of-school youngsters,” in the Werewere’s own words (p.118).

From African theater we return to Brazilian literature, with the article “Dialogy and Chronotopy in the Historical Novel Verde Vale, by Urda Klueger,” by Vanilda Meister Arnold, Silvânia Siebert and Maria Marta Furlanetto, all from Universidade do Sul de Santa Catarina - UNISUL [University of the South of Santa Catarina – UNISUL]. The authors promote a reading and analysis of the regional historical novel based on Bakhtin’s studies, raising movements linked to specific social contexts and reflecting on principles and values linked to a time-space in Santa Catarina and to German immigration in Brazilian territory. The chronotopes of transmigration, threshold and soil bring together the phenomena of toponymy and anthroponymy, worked as events of memory and identity, and enrich the understanding of the novel.

The last two texts, as we have already announced, are extremely contemporary and turn to digital media. The article “A Techno-Discursive Analysis of Manifestations Surrounding Diego Maradona’s Death: Methodologies for Delimiting Discursive Regions on Twitter” is written by Alejandra J. Josiowicz and Bruno Deusdará, both from Universidade Estadual do Rio de Janeiro - UERJ [State University of Rio de Janeiro – UERJ]. The important study, besides calling for the discursive perspective of the Bakhtin Circle for the analysis of Twitter messages, coherently expands the theoretical lenses in order to explain and problematize techniques for capturing and producing a digital research corpus. This strategy is demonstrated in the analysis of discursive images in Argentina, Brazil and the world (in Spanish, Portuguese and English) on the occasion of Diego Maradona’s death. The use of technology is presented critically, in order to highlight the conditions of use of digital platforms by discourse analysts.

As contemporary as the discourse in the messages of Twitter is the discourse of video games, which is beginning to be an object of study in Applied Linguistics and in discourse analysis. This is the subject of the work Approaches to Videogame Discourse: Lexis, Interaction, Textuality, edited by the Canadian scholar Astrid Ensslin from the University of Alberta, and the Spanish scholar Isabel Balteiro from the University of Alicante. In this review, Rodrigo Costa dos Santos from Universidade Federal Fluminense – UFF [Federal Fluminense University – UFF] gives us a good view of the work and of the bibliography regarding this discourse whose appeal is so great, mainly, but not strictly, among the youngsters.

Finally, it is important to note that Bakhtiniana advances on the path of open science: in this issue we have publicized more reviews and, above all, good reviews of the articles. Undoubtedly, they also constitute a source of knowledge and study, and show a productive dialogue among researchers. Therefore, we invite everyone – readers, authors and collaborators – to actively respond to these texts, savoring and including this issue in their research. As readers can see, this is an issue that brings together fifteen Brazilian researchers from seven different Brazilian universities (PUC Minas; UnB; PUC-SP; UEA; UNISUL; UERJ; UFF).

We once again are greatly indebted to the valuable and constant support, help and recognition from CNPq, by means of Chamada CNPq Nº 15/2021 – Programa Editorial, Proc. 402109/2021-0 [Call CNPq 15/2021 –Editorial Program, Process 402109/2021-0], and from PUC-SP by means of Plano de Incentivo à Pesquisa (PIPEq)/Edital 11913/2022Publicação de Periódicos (PubPer-PUCSP), Solicitação 22883 [Incentive Research Plan (PIPEq)/ 11913/2022 Academic Journal Publication (PubPer-PUCSP), Request 22883].

• 1
  In Portuguese: “Mas a nós, que não somos nem cavaleiros da fé nem super-homens, só resta, por assim dizer, trapacear com a língua, trapacear a língua. Essa trapaça salutar, essa esquiva, esse logro magnífico que permite ouvir a língua fora do poder, no esplendor de uma revolução permanente da linguagem, eu a chamo, quanto a mim: literatura.”
• 2
  BAKHTIN, M. M. Discourse in the Novel. In: BAKHTIN, M. M. The Dialogic Imagination: Four Essays. Translated by Caryl Emerson and Michael Holquist. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1981. p.262.
• 3
  BAKHTIN, M. Problems of Dostoevsky’s Poetics. 8th printing. Translated by Caryl Emerson. Minneapolis, MN, University of Minnesota Press, 1984.
• 4
  VOLOŠINOV, V. N. Marxism and the Philosophy of Language. Transl. Ladislav Matejka and R. Titunik. Translator’s Preface.Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1973. In the Brazilian Portuguese edition Marxism and the Philosophy of Language came with a subheading: “Problemas fundamentais do método sociológico na filosofia da linguagem” [Fundamental Problems of the Sociological Method in the Philosophy of Language].
• 5
  For reference, see footnote 3.
• 6
  For reference, see footnote 4.
• 7
  For reference, see footnote 4, p.V.
• 8
  In Brazil, nearly all essays published in the collection have been re-translated directly from the Russian language by Paulo Bezerra and published by Editora 34.
• 9
  For reference, see footnote 2.
• 10
  BARTHES, R. The Pleasure of the Text. Translated by Richard Miller with a note on the text by Richard Howard. New York: Hill and Wang, 1975. p.3.
• 11
  BAKHTIN, M.M. Toward a Philosophy of the Act. Translation and note by Vadim Liapunov. Edited by Vadim Liapunov and Michael Holquist. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1993. p.55.
• FAPESP/Proc.n.2019/20703-2

REFERÊNCIAS

• BAKHTIN, M. Questões de literatura e de estética A teoria do romance. Tradução (do russo) Aurora Fornoni Bernadini et al 3 ed. São Paulo: Editora UNESP, 1993. p.74.
• BAKHTIN, M. Para uma filosofia do ato responsável Trad. aos cuidados de Valdemir Miotello & Carlos Alberto Faraco. São Carlos, SP: Pedro & João Editores, 2010.
• BARTHES, R. Aula Tradução e posfácio Leyla Perrone-Moisés [Aula inaugural da cadeira de Semiologia Literária do Colégio de France/Paris/França, pronunciada no dia 7 de janeiro de 1977]. São Paulo: Cultrix, 2007. p.16.
• BARTHES, R. Le plaisir du texte Paris: Editions du Seuil, 1973.
• BRAIT, B. Literatura e outras linguagens São Paulo: Contexto, 2010.

Publication Dates

• Publication in this collection
  08 Aug 2022
• Date of issue
  Jul-Sep 2022