BAKHTIN QUESTION. THE SECOND ARTICLE: PAVEL NIKOLAEVICH MEDVEDEV

Abstract

In the article a short biography of Pavel Nikolaevich Medvedev is demonstrated from the standpoint of his participation in Bakhtin’s circle and his publications under his own name a number of Bakhtin’s works, begun by the methodological article “Scientific Salierism” (1925), continued with reviews of the books of V. Shklovsky and B. Tomashevsky, a detailed replica “Sociologism without sociology” on the occasion of P.N. Sakulin’s monograph “Sociological method in literary criticism” (1925) and brought to great methodological clarity by the book “The Formal Method in Literary Criticism. A Critical Introduction to Sociological Poetics” (1928). The Medvedev’s management has been emphasized in the publication of these works, as well as the books “Freudianism. A Critical Sketch” (1927), “Marxism and the Philosophy of Language. Fundamental Problems of the Sociological Method in the Science of Language” (1929) and the several articles and reviews published under the title authorship of Voloshinov, and the book under the clear authorship of Bakhtin “Problems of Dostoevsky’s Creation” (1929). The mediating role of Medvedev between the authorities and the intelligentsia in Vitebsk and Leningrad in the 1920 s - 1930 s is presented.