In literature, polyphony (Russian: полифония) is a feature of narrative, which includes a diversity of points of view and voices. The concept was invented by Mikhail Bakhtin, based on the musical concept polyphony.
One of the most known examples of polyphony is Dostoevsky's prose. Bakhtin has characterized Dostoevsky's work as polyphonic: unlike other novelists, he does not appear to aim for a 'single vision', going beyond simply describing situations from various angles. Dostoevsky engendered fully dramatic novels of ideas where conflicting views and characters are left to develop unevenly into unbearable crescendo (The Brothers Karamazov). Through his descriptions the narrator's voice merges imperceptibly into the tone of the people he is describing.
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Modernism and contemporary examples
- Virginia Woolf — Mrs Dalloway
- James Joyce — Ulysses
- Melvin Burgess — Junk, Doing It
- Alexander Prokhanov — 600 Years after the Battle
- Irvine Welsh — Trainspotting
- Malorie Blackman — Noughts & Crosses
- Derek Walcott — Omeros
See also
References
- Mikhail Bakhtin — Problems of Dostoyevsky’s Art: Polyphony and Unfinalizability
External links
English
- R. Wellek Bakhtin’s view of Dostoevsky: "polyphony" and "carnivalesque"
- R. Clark Literary Encyclopedia Polyphonic novel (membership needed to read the full version)
Russian
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