THE PROBLEM OF TRUTH IN BAKHTIN’S THEORY OF DIALOGISM

Abstract

This paper seeks to examine the problem of truth as one of the major underpinnings of dialogism. The main thesis argued here is that truth is not an abstract concept anymore, since it arises from the unique position that each individual occupies in being-as-event, and that the history of the novel is a continuous development toward a dialogic mode of truth-making, which requires multiple consciousnesses. Also discussed are the Russian words for truth, their appearance and meaning in Bakhtin’s philosophy, and their aesthetic dimensions in Dostoevsky’s “minor” works. The paper concludes that literary evolution can be viewed as a movement toward a more advanced understanding of truth.