Saransk Bakhtin Studies in a Scientific Journal: Socio-Humanitarian Discourse

M.M. Bakhtin’s personality and work continue to amaze us with their uniqueness, and an appreciation of the Russian thinker’s multifaceted nature allows us to clarify and elaborate on his significance in Russian humanities thought. In 2019, the first issue of the scholarly online journal “Bakhtin Bulletin” was published. It began to take shape through creative connections and collaboration with scholars from many countries. This dialogic communication (“cooperation”, according to M.M. Bakhtin) within the scholarly community defined the mission of “Bakhtin Bulletin” and necessitated the recording of reports, speeches, theses, conversations, and remarks. These can be divided into two areas: Bakhtin studies and Bakhtinistics, as well as subsections reflecting different types of textual spaces.

The purpose of this article is to substantiate these two concepts: “Bakhtin studies” and “Bakhtinistics”, which are often used interchangeably. While a correlation is certainly possible between them, the grounds for distinguishing and understanding them are substantial: their specific nature requires research into the issues involved in Bakhtin studies (analysis of the scholar’s creativity, thinking, ideas, new meanings, and concepts) and Bakhtin studies (the study of his life). The research’s novelty lies in its examination of Saransk Bakhtin studies (a newly introduced concept), which is exceptionally rich in the recollections of people who lived in this city at the same time as Bakhtin, worked with him, and interacted with him. The article presents the results of a study of Bakhtin’s academic biography through the prism of life in Saransk (1936-1937; 1945-1969 — almost a quarter of a century) through an analysis of archival materials, published notes, reflections, ideas, and, most importantly, recorded conversations with those who could still share living memories. This material is actively published in the Bakhtin Bulletin, thereby deepening the scholarly biography of the thinker and stimulating research interest.

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