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| From Polyphony to Counterpoint: Said‘s Abrogation and Inheritance of Bakhtin’s Theory |
| CAI Tianxing |
| Department of Public Course, Guangdong Police College, Guangzhou, Guangdong, 510440, Department of Chinese Language and Literature, Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou, Guangdong, 510275 |
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Abstract Polyphonic theory had been one of the most popular Western literary theories through out the whole twentieth century. It is originally introduced by Bakhtin, and completed by Edward Said. Bakhtin's polyphonic theory is a thinking based on dialogue, which is between the author and the protagonists and focusing on the author and the work itself. For Edward Said, polyphony is based on contact. It is a dialogue between the East and the West, focusing on readers and the world. Both are based epistemologically on subjectivity of the object, and methodologically trying to extend outside of the texts, focusing on connections, paying attention to social-analysis, historical backgrounds and simultaneous coexistence. But the two differ on the concept of the Orient, the extent of systematization, and the way to approve and disapprove. From the following three aspects, Edward Said develops Bakhtin's polyphonic theory: to look at the Orient instead of sticking to Euro-centrism; to break integral systems and pay attention to individual parts; as well as to destroy authorities and lean to nihilism.
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Received: 09 October 2014
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2015, Vol. 32 
