Art and Answerability: Early Philosophical Essays

by M.M. Bakhtin, Kenneth Brostrom (Translator), Vadim Liapunov (Contributor)

Art and Answerability contains three of Mikhail Bakhtin's early essays from the years following the Russian Revolution, when Bakhtin and other intellectuals eagerly participated in the debates, lectures, demonstrations, and manifesto writing of the period. Because they predate works that have already been translated, these essays—"Art and Answerability," "Author and Hero in Aesthetic Activity," and "The Problem of Content, Material, and Form in Verbal Art"—are essential to a comprehensive understanding of Bakhtin's later works. A superb introduction by Michael Holquist sets out the major themes and concerns of the three essays and identifies their place in the canon of Bakhtin's work and in intellectual history. The introduction, together with Vadim Liapunov's scholarly gloss, makes these essays accessible to students as well as scholars.

Genres: Philosophy, Art, Literary Criticism, Theory, Nonfiction

384 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1990

Reviews

[Illiterate · Rating 2 out of 5]

Bakhtin claims self greets other as a whole to which it gives form by its imaginative sympathy. It does so as an aesthetic judgment more than moral ought or cognitive fact.

[Dionysius the Areopagite · Rating 5 out of 5]

Silverware.

[Reuben Woolley · Rating 5 out of 5]

It’s not an easy read thanks to all the kantian terminology and references to long-forgotten german neokantians, but this is an absolutely fascinating work that I’m really glad to have read. Indispensable if you want to really understand how Bakhtin’s later thought came about, and parts that are genuinely quite beautiful and intriguing — particularly a passage about what our relationship to our own image is when looking in the mirror, and his explanation of how one relates to a limb that they’ve lost control of due to illness (Bakhtin suffered from lifelong osteomyelitis and would have his right leg amputated 11 years after this was written).

[Maxim · Rating 2 out of 5]

Bakhtin's repititive manner bothers; one of the naive examples which tries to get out of idealism using fenomenological tactics but clinging it reluctantly.

[a.h. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Omgggg this was written so BEAUTIFULLY

[Dionysius the Areopagite · Rating 5 out of 5]

Which are the marks distinguishing the altar for sacrifices from that used as a stand? R. Jacob b.
Aidi said in the name of R. Johanan: The latter kind consists of but one stone, while the former
of several stones. 'Hiskia adduces a verse to this effect [Is. xxvii. 27, 9]: "When he maketh all
the stones of the altar as limestones, that are beaten in pieces, when there shall notarise again
any groves and sun images," i.e., only when they are turned to lime no image is put on them, nor
sacrifice, then only is their use allowable.

[sologdin · Rating 1 out of 5]

this didn't really do it for me--maybe too much neo-kantianism that I didn't get the first time through. must now re-assess in light of derrida's comments on 'responsibility' in the gift of death, which I read as closely akin to bakhtinian 'answerability.'

[Jordan Goings · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of the foundational books in my life as a Christian thinker. Whether aesthetics, theology, or literary theory, it's a great primer for Bakhtinian thought.

[Christina “6 word reviewer” Lake · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliant. Really enjoyed reading this again.