Speech Genres and Other Late Essays (University of Texas Press Slavic Series) [Hardcover]

M.M. Bakhtin (Author), Caryl Emerson (Editor), Michael Holquist (Editor), Vern W. McGee (Translator)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0292720467 | ISBN-13: 978-0292720466 | Publication Date: 1987 | Edition: 1st

Speech Genres and Other Late Essays presents six short works from Bakhtin's Esthetics of Creative Discourse, published in Moscow in 1979. This is the last of Bakhtin's extant manuscripts published in the Soviet Union. All but one of these essays (the one on the Bildungsroman) were written in Bakhtin's later years and thus they bear the stamp of a thinker who has accumulated a huge storehouse of factual material, to which he has devoted a lifetime of analysis, reflection, and reconsideration.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"... in many ways the best of Bakhtin." New York Times Book Review --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Language Notes

Text: English, Russian (translation)

Product Details

• Hardcover: 203 pages
• Publisher: University of Texas Press; 1st edition (1987)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0292720467
• ISBN-13: 978-0292720466
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.2 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #5,404,833 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Review of the Bildungsroman Book Fragment, September 13, 2000

By 

Walter O. Koenig "Amoxtli" (San Diego, California, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Speech Genres and Other Late Essays (University of Texas Press Slavic Series) (Paperback)

This Book, like almost everything Bakhtin wrote is profound and food for thought. Unfortunately, and this is the drawback with some of the English Language translations and compilations, it is also quite uneven, both in subject matter and content. The Reader should not be deterred. It is worth reading, because there are some fine insights buried in this book. --- I will only write about the so called Bildungroman Fragment here. It has become almost more legendary because of the fact that Bakhtin supposedly used the only surviving manuscript for Cigarette Papers and thus literally smoked his own work. However, any student of the Bildungsroman will immediately comrpehend its use in Bakhtin's reconstruction of the History of the Genre. Bakhtin begins with the origins in the 16th and 17th Centuries, and traces the development to the Classical Period of German Literature. Presumably, Goethes "Wilhelm Meisters Lehrjahre" was to be the pinnacle of development, but this is a part that is lost. What is important is that Bakhtin not only correctly names the Novels of the Genre we all should know, by authors such as Wieland, Herder, Keller etc., but he also names several very important Novels which are usually forgotten, and have been branded as obscure or eccentric by Critics and Scholars. I will name three: Theodor Gottlieb von Hippel: "Lebensläufe in Aufstehender Linie", Johann Karl Wezel: "Lebensgeschichte Tobias Knauts, des Weisen sonst der Stammler genannt" and Jean Paul: "Titan". I would suggest that Bakhtin's Essay is of importance because thanks to him these three Novels are being rediscovered by todays' readers, they have entered the Discussion of Literary of Criticism and have taken their place in the History of the Bildungsroman, which they rightly deserve.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars excellent late essays, March 15, 2008

By 

V. K. Ramesh - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Speech Genres and Other Late Essays (University of Texas Press Slavic Series) (Paperback)

This collection of late essays is essential for any student of Bakhtin in order to achieve a fuller understanding of the totality of his work. While the essays are varied, ranging from a discussion of the Bildungsroman & Goethe's sense of time to questions of approaching text from a foundation of cultural dialog, perhaps the most important essay here is the one lending its name to the title. Describing as never before Bakhtin's sense of speech genre as a post-Formalist critique of speech as monad, it is a crucial essay in understanding Bakhtin's entire paradigm of dialogic communication. Along with his earlier works, this collection of essays is a must for any student of linguistics, semantics, semiotics, literature, or any particular school of philosophy.

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars brilliant, May 19, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Speech Genres and Other Late Essays (University of Texas Press Slavic Series) (Paperback)

The best introduction to Bakhtin as he is at his mostprovocative and lucid form. The next book to read for those interestedin the man would be the Rabelais and the Dostoevsky book.