A importância do grotesco

I propose to take the grotesque, both as a discursive genre and a cultural attitude and practice, as a point of departure that allows us to comment more widely on Bakhtin’s Rabelais book and its significance for current debates on subjectivity. In carnival, the epic reverberates in humanity’s boundless memory “of cosmic perturbations in the distant past,” while the novelistic lives in the grotesque fluctuation and removal of distance, and in the irreverent and joyful celebration of resilience through laughter. Like the epic, carnival is about the maintaining of traditional practices, but in an open and charitably insecure, “novelistic” way. The book on Rabelais seems to be the point where, on reconciling and synthesizing culture and life in the acts of the human body, reworking and redrawing the boundaries of cultural taboos, and championing a symbiosis between the epic and the novelistic, Bakhtin sponsors a new sense of tradition inscribed in the irreverent life of folk (community) culture. This celebration of the people re-opens the vexing question about the political implications of Bakhtin’s pronouncements on the epic and the novelistic, on communitarian and individual culture, and on their desired synthesis. But it also enables us to locate Bakhtin’s style of thinking and his specific brand of decentred, indeed dislocated, humanism.Proponho a consideração do grotesco tanto como gênero discursivo, atitude e prática cultural, quanto como um ponto de partida que nos permite comentar mais amplamente a obra de Bakhtin relativa a Rabelais e seu significado para as discussões atuais referentes à subjetividade. No carnaval, o épico reverbera a memória ilimitada “das perturbações cósmicas passadas”, enquanto o romanesco vive na flutuação grotesca e remoção de distâncias e, por meio do riso, na celebração irreverente e alegre da resiliência. Assim como o épico, o carnaval relaciona-se com a manutenção de práticas tradicionais, porém isso ocorre de forma “romanesca”, aberta e indulgentemente incerta. O livro sobre Rabelais parece ser o ponto em que, ao reconciliar e sintetizar a cultura e a vida em atos do corpo humano, ao retrabalhar e redesenhar as barreiras de tabus culturais e ao defender uma simbiose entre o épico e o romanesco, Bakhtin advoga uma nova percepção da tradição inscrita na irreverente vida da cultura do povo (comunidade). Essa celebração das pessoas reabre a incômoda questão a respeito das implicações políticas dos pronunciamentos de Bakhtin sobre o épico e o romanesco, a cultura comunitária e a individual, e a desejada síntese entre eles. Mas ela também nos permite situar o estilo do pensamento de Bakhtin e sua específica marca de humanismo descentralizado, de fato, deslocado

Literatura mundial, guerra, revolución: la relevancia de Viaje sentimental, de Viktor Shklovski

This article examines Shklovskii’s previously overlooked engagement with a discursive domain we currently tend to refer to as ‘world literature’; as such, it is an original contribution not just to understanding A Sentimental Journey, arguably the richest part of Shklovskii’s 1920s memoir trilogy, but also to honing a transnational approach to his writing. While Shklovskii’s work has already been discussed through the prism of mobility and nomadism, this article emphasises his active involvement in, and reaction to, early Soviet discourses and practices of ‘world literature’. It places Shklovskii’s commitment to the idea of world literature in the broader context of our present debates on the subject. To understand ‘world literature’ as a specific construct, we must ask the unavoidable question about the location of ‘world literature’ vis-à-vis language, which has important consequences for how we interpret the dispersed legacy of modern literary theory (founded, undoubtedly, by Shklovskii and the Russian Formalists); this would allow us to recognize the enduring relevance of Shklovskii’s understanding of literariness for current debates on world literature.El presente artículo analiza el interés de Shklovski, no analizado hasta la fecha, por un dominio discursivo que actualmente tiende a denominarse “literatura mundial”. Este trabajo trata de presentar una contribución original para entender Viaje sentimental, considerado el mejor volumen de la trilogía de memorias de Shklovski publicada en los años 1920, así como presentar una aproximación transnacional a su escritura. Si bien el trabajo de Shklovski ha sido previamente estudiado a través del prisma de la movilidad y el nomadismo, el presente artículo trata de poner el énfasis tanto en su participación activa como en su reacción ante los discursos y prácticas en torno a la “literatura mundial” durante los primeros años de la Unión Soviética, ubicando el interés del autor ruso por la idea de literatura mundial en el contexto más amplio de los debates presentes acerca de la cuestión. Para entender la “literatura mundial” como una construcción específica, resulta preciso preguntarse acerca del problema ineludible de la localización de la “literatura mundial” con respecto a la lengua, aspecto que conlleva importantes consecuencias a la hora de interpretar el legado disperso de la teoría literaria moderna (fundada como es sabido por Shklovski y los formalistas rusos). Ello nos permitiría reconocer la persistente relevancia de la idea shklovskiana de literariedad en los presentes debates en torno a la literatura mundial

Philosophy and Russian social thought: continuities after the October Revolution

In this essay I focus on the continuities - often hidden behind dramatic political changes - that permeate the landscape of philosophy and social thought in the Soviet period, from the October Revolution in 1917 to the demise of the USSR in 1991.Neste ensaio estudo as continuidades que permeiam - frequentemente escondidas sob mudanças políticas dramáticas - o cenário da filosofia e do pensamento social no período soviético, da Revolução de Outubro, em 1917, à queda da URSS em 1991

Ferrying a Thinker Across Time and Language: Bakhtin, Translation, World Literature

This article is an attempt to understand how the work of a thinker travels across time, and what journeying through languages and cultures has to do with these peregrinations. There is more at stake in this process than the certainty of canonization would suggest. Building on my previous work, I want to examine the principal trajectories of appropriating Bakhtin in the West since the 1960s; this will allow me to revisit the question of Bakhtin’s longevity, and the potential of his work to gain traction in current debates on world literature. The agenda of reviving and opening up modern languages is inseparable from thinking through its encounters within the practice of translation, and Bakhtin’s work can serve as a litmus test of appropriation that involves constant meta-reflexion on what constitutes translation in different cultural zones

Assessing the opportunities to increase economic efficiency through the use of telematic systems for analysis and control

The purpose of the study is to evaluate the possibilities for increasing production efficiency and increasing economic results through the use of modern means of real-time analysis and control. The method used is related to the implementation of a Horsch Telematics telemetry system thanks to a Horsch Connect receiver. The results show deviations in the hour of sowing events, which leads to a drop in production efficiency. By adjusting the sowing measures as a result of the reported data, it is possible to increase the economic results

Pedagogical work of Mikhail M. Bakhtin (1920s – early 1960s)

The purpose of this essay to is to describe and discuss Bakhtin’s pedagogical work based on diverse archival materials and memoirs of his students