Problems of Dostoevsky's Poetics (Russian: Проблемы поэтики Достоевского, Problemy poètiki Dostoevskogo) is a book by the 20th century Russian philosopher and literary theorist Mikhail Bakhtin. It was originally published in 1929 in Leningrad under the title Problems of Dostoevsky's Creative Art (Russian: Проблемы творчества Достоевского, Problemy tvorčestva Dostoevskogo) but was re-published with significant additions under the new title in 1963 in Moscow.[1][2] The book was first translated into English in 1973 by R. William Rotsel but this version is now out of print.[3] Caryl Emerson's 1984 translation is the version now used for academic discussion in English.
Problems of Dostoevsky's Poetics is considered to be a seminal work in Dostoevsky studies as well as an important contribution to literary theory.[4][5] Bakhtin introduces a number of key concepts, such as polyphony and carnivalisation, to elucidate what he saw as unique in Dostoevsky's literary art.[6] He argues that Dostoevsky's works are essentially dialogical, unfolding on the basis of interaction between autonomous voices, as opposed to monological, where plot and character unfold within the confines of a single authorial universe.[7] In consequence, it is argued that attempts to expound Dostoevsky's novels from any sort of monological critical perspective will always fail to penetrate them.[8]