Polyphony, mimicry, and layered voicing – on Fyodor Dostoevsky’s creative method

Abstract

Since Mikhail Bakhtin coined the term “polyphonic novel,” polyphony understood as a complex combination of equal voices has become a cliché of Dostoevsky studies. However, the eras of Dostoevsky and Bakhtin are at least fifty years apart, and those five decades saw a radical change in conceptualizing various kinds of art, including music. Yet the question of what these two eras took polyphony to mean and whether these two polyphonies are identical has been raised only recently. This article will consider Dostoevsky’s creative method through the lens of two terms: mimicry and layered voicing. Mimicry is Dostoevsky’s main principle of handling ideas: his antiheroes’ false ideas mimic true ones, Dostoevsky’s ideologues pretend to be what they are not. Layered voicing is Dostoevsky’s special narrative technique of combining several voices in a single statement. This technique is particularly relevant when interpreting quotations, both directly attributed and hidden ones, that Dostoevsky uses in his works. By distinguishing these voices, readers can arrive at the true idea that antiheroes’ false ideas mimic.