EDITORIAL
Bakhtiniana's Editorial Special Issue
Authorship, context of production and reception are key elements to think about the work produced by the Bakhtin Circle and, especially, about the way they have influenced and continue to influence language studies, in particular, and Human Sciences, in general.
On the basis of this historically incontestable assessment, Bakhtiniana's editors have organized this special issue (the first one since its creation), which presents, through several and important texts, information and discussions which will certainly be a significant source for the productive and incessant authorship issue that surrounds Bakhtin and the so called Circle.
The first article, which is presented in three languages La pregunta por el autor en Bajtín / A questão do autor em Bakhtin / The Question of the Author in Bakhtin, was written by Pampa Olga Arán/Universidade Córdoba/Argentina, a researcher, professor and the author of, among other well known publications, the Nuevo diccinonario de la teoría de Mijaíl Bajtín. The text published here, essential to understand and reflect on matters that motivated this issue, follows her great opening lecture during the VIII Jornada do Grupo de Pesquisa/CNPq/PUC-SP Linguagem, Identidade e Memória [VIIIth Meeting of the Language, Identity and Memory Research Group from CNPq - Brazilian National Research Council /Pontifícia Universidade Católica de São Paulo - São Paulo Catholic University]. The reader will find there a clarifying and a profound theoretical material to think about the authorship issue as an internal and external dimension to the Bakhtinian studies, because Pampa Olga Arán approaches the matter of authorship in the Bakhtinian work, searching for Bakhtin's perspective regarding the ways an author relates to his/her work, or regarding the subject's relation to language and writing.
The second text was previously published and received in Russian; however, for Bakhtiniana's issue, it was translated into Portuguese and into English O Círculo de M. M. Bakhtin: sobre a fundamentação de um fenômeno / The M. M. Bakhtin Circle: on the Foundation of a Phenomenon. Its authors, Iurii Pavlovitch Medvedev and Daria Aleksandrovna Medviedeva, who are, respectively, Pavel N. Medvedev's son and daughter-in-law, offer to this authorship and context of production issue a very meaningful tone, taking into account the work's content and the kinship involved. It is an in memoriam article (see Bakhtiniana, vol.8, n.2), because Iurii died before seeing his work published in those two Western languages. The authors revisit the social, intellectual and political contexts in which the Bakhtin Circle was constituted, stressing Pavel Medvedev's role in it.
The third text, presented in Potuguese and in English Bakhtin completamente nu ou Uma leitura de Bakhtin em diálogo com Medvedev, Voloshinov, Vygotsky ... ou, ainda: Dialogismo: as desventuras de um conceito (?) quando ele se torna muito amplo, mas dialogismos" assim mesmo / Bakhtin Completely Naked or A Reading of Bakhtin in a Dialogue with Voloshinov, Medvedev and Vygotsky or else Dialogism, the Misfortunes of a Concept When it Grows too Big, But still Is Dialogism All the Same was previously published and received in French. It is an extensive text, written by one of today's greatest connoisseurs of Bakhtin and Vigotsky: Frédéric François, from Université Paris Descartes (Paris V), Paris/France. Without any doubts, this work will also enable the reader to think about authorship, context of production and reception, from a dialogic, calm, critical and informative style, which will greatly help those who aim to understand the contradictions involved in the subject covered by this special issue.
Taking into consideration that this issue's texts make reference to the recent book written by the Swiss scholars J.-P Bronckart and C. Bota, we decided to add to this important theoretical, critical and evaluative framework presented here two reviews regarding such book, both of which were produced in the European intellectual ambiance: one in Moscow and the other in Paris. They were previously received and published in French and for Bakhtiniana's issue they were translated into Portuguese and into English. The book reviews are, respectively, authored by Sandra Nossik/ Université Franche-Comté/France and Serge Zenkine/ Russian State University for the Humanities (RGGU).
Therefore, this special issue materializes a research universe that involves institutions from Russia, France, Argentina and Brazil and, for its editing, it counted with the cooperation of three editors, who are from PUC-SP (Pontifícia Universidade Católica de São Paulo São Paulo Catholic University) and from UFPE (Universidade Federal de Pernambuco Federal University of Pernambuco). We thank the authors who allowed the publication of their texts in this issue. Futhermore, we 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) which have awarded us a grant for this issue publication, and the work of the several translators and reviewers, whose attention attempted to preserve the texts' original style by choosing the accurate syntax and terms and by fostering dialogue between the original and translated texts.
Beth Brait/PUC-SP/CNPq
Dóris de Arruda Carneiro da Cunha/UFPE/CNPq
Maria Helena Cruz Pistori/PUC-SP/CNPq
Translated by Bruna Lopes-Dugnani
Publication Dates
-
Publication in this collection
01 July 2014 -
Date of issue
July 2014
