THE THEME CONCEPTION IN BAKHTIN’S AND HIS CIRCLE’S WORKS

FUZA, Ângela Francine; RODRIGUES, Rosângela Hammes

Acessibilidade / Reportar erro

Brasil

Alfa: Revista de Linguística (São José do Rio Preto)

Español English

Brasil

Español English

sumário « anterior atual seguinte »

Sumário

ORIGINAL ARTICLE • Alfa, Rev. Linguíst 66 • 2022 • https://doi.org/10.1590/1981-5794-e14491 copy

THE THEME CONCEPTION IN BAKHTIN’S AND HIS CIRCLE’S WORKS

Authorship SCIMAGO INSTITUTIONS RANKINGS

ABSTRACT

The study of meaning is one of the most complex problems in Linguistics, according to Bakhtin’s and his Circle’s assumptions. In the meantime, the theme, one of the key concepts, although not the most studied by the Circle, becomes essential for the understanding of language as a concrete action. This bibliographic article aims to discuss, epistemologically and theoretically, the concept of the theme as well as the concepts in the Circle’s works, specifically, Bakhtin’s, Volochínov’s and Medviédev’s. To this end, the text resumes the considerations about the theme in these authors’ works, to observe its deployment over the years. Results show that there are variations in the concept, which made it possible to understand some trends in their understanding: (1) theme as the total meaning of the utterance, the event, the reality and the moment in which content and form interact axiologically; (2) theme such as the relationship between meaning and value of the ideological sign; and (3) theme as the object of the utterance.

Theme; Bakhtin’s circle; total meaning of the utterance; relationship between meaning and valuation; object of the utterance

Work/Text/Essay	Published [Written]
Toward a philosophy of the act	1993 [1920-1924]
The Problem of Content, Material, and Form in Verbal Art	1990 [1923-1924]
Discourse in life and discourse in art	1976 [1926]
The Formal Method in Literary Scholarship	1978 [1928]
Marxism and the philosophy of language	1973 [1929]
The Construction of the Utterance	1983a [1930]
The Word and its Social Function	1983b [1930]
Discourse in the Novel	1981 [1934-1935]
Forms of Time and of the Chronotope in the Novel	1981 [1937-1938]
Rabelais and His World	1984 [1940]
The problem of speech genres	1986 [1951-1953]

Tendencies	Texts	Some general features on the topic¹⁸
(1) theme as a total sense of utterance, event, reality and moment in which content and form interact axiologically.	Toward a philosophy of the act (Bakhtin, 1920-1924)	•“meaning” that is made up of the links between the repeatable and unrepeatable portions of the act.
	The Problem of Content, Material, and Form in Verbal Art (Bakhtin, 1923-1924)	•the reality that enters the work and becomes an indispensable element; •the significant moment in which they interact axiologically: content and form.
	Discourse in life and discourse in art (Vološinov, 1926)	•the “total meaning” of an utterance, “global significance” and “total content” of the discourse.
(2) theme as a relation between meaning and valuation of the ideological sign.	The Formal Method in Literary Scholarship (Bakhtin/ Medvedev, 1928)	•it is constituted with the help of the language, transcending it; •theme of the whole of utterance; •inseparable from its original orientation in reality, from spatial and temporal circumstances; •it corresponds to the thematic unit; •it cannot be completed in the utterance.
	Marxism and the philosophy of language (Vološinov, 1929)	•it is the reality that gives rise to the formation of a sign, called the theme of the sign; •it is the reality that participates in the constitution of the utterance; •it is the expression of a concrete historical situation; •it must not be confused with the theme of a work of art; •it comes close to the concept of “thematic unity”; •it is the meaning of the complete utterance; •it is endowed with meaning and needs the form of the utterance to materialize; •it is individual, repeatable, flexible and dynamic; •higher stage of the linguistic ability to signify; •linked to relative viability.
	The word and its social function (Vološinov, 1983b [1930])	•fragment of reality.
(3) theme as the object of the utterance.	The Construction of the Utterance (Vološinov, 1983a [1930])	•object or theme covered by the utterance.
	Discourse in the Novel (Bakhtin, 1934-1935)	•designated as a specific object of the romance genre; •defined as the man who speaks and his word.
	Forms of Time and of the Chronotope in the Novel (Bakhtin, 1937-1938)	•understood as content/object of the novel.
	Rabelais and His World (Bakhtin, 1940)	•understood as content/object of the novel.
	The problem of speech genres (Bakhtin, 1951-1953)	•focused on the object of utterance; •the theme of utterance/thematic content of utterance and the typical theme/thematic content of genre.

Universidade Estadual Paulista Júlio de Mesquita Filho Rua Quirino de Andrade, 215, 01049-010 São Paulo - SP, Tel. (55 11) 5627-0233 - São Paulo - SP - Brazil
E-mail: alfa@unesp.br

Acompanhe os números deste periódico no seu leitor de RSS