Abstract
Besides some similarity, there are many differences between Bakhtin's "Polyphonic Novel" and Western polyphonic music, for example conflict and harmony, pluralism and monism, confrontation and imitation, incompletion and perfect termination, historical background and many other aspects. Realization of these, and some concepts like counterpoint and bitonality in musical senses, will help us avoid interdisciplinary misusing of these terms. Compared to "polyphonic", "dialogical novel" may be the more suitable antonym of "monologic novel", because "dialogue", which can include various meanings that the term "Polyphony" wants to express, is not only the core of Bakhtin's poetics, but also the essential feature of the "Polyphonic Novel" which he defined. In addition, the most important standard for the judgement of a novel as to whether or not it belongs to "Polyphonic Novel" as defined by Bakhtin's is whether a novel has "dialogue".
First Page
196
Last Page
206
Recommended Citation
Hao, Qian. 2018. "Polyphonic Novel and Polyphonic Music." Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art 38, (4): pp.196-206. https://tsla.researchcommons.org/journal/vol38/iss4/8
