A Study Of Rhetoric Theory In Complete Works Of Bakhtin(Seven Volumes)

Bakhtin's “theoretical system of philology and philosophy” is “one of the most remarkable phenomena” in the academic history of the 20 th century.Complete Works of Bakhtin(seven volumes)in Chinese version is the comprehensive collection of Bakhtin's academic texts in China.Mainly taking the oeuvre as the research subject,the dissertation focuses on Bakhtin's rhetoric views and theory.The previous studies on Bakhtin at home and aboard resulted in a large amount of academic products with great values,which are enlightening to my present research,but some deficiencies are found as following:Firstly,the previous studies on Bakhtin's rhetoric views and theory are lack of systematicity.Secondly,only two papers are found on Bakhtin's super-linguistic rhetoric views.Thirdly,the previous studies on Bakhtin's theories of space-time,humour and polyphony are not found to cover his rhetoric views and theory.Therefore,the dissertation attempts to systematically explore Bakhtin's rhetoric views and theory by the close-reading of Complete Works of Bakhtin.Some major discoveries are as following:In the Complete Works of Bakhtin,“trope/rhetoric”(as the core concepts of his rhetoric theory)and their subordinate concepts occur 537 times.The descending order in terms of occurrences is as following: Volume 3 > Volume 4 > Volume 2 > Volume5 > Volume 6 > Volume 7 > Volume 1.Therefore,the dissertation attempts to study Bakhtin's views on super-linguistic rhetoric and its research paradigm including its research unit,scope and object in comparison with the linguistic rhetoric views in the narrow sense.Bakhtin's super-linguistic rhetoric encompasses his views on “space-time rhetoric”,“humorous rhetoric” and “polyphonic rhetoric”.To some extent,all these rhetoric views could also be interpreted within the framework of Generalized Rhetorical Theory as following:1)About Bakhtin's view on “space-time rhetoric”: according to Bakhtin,the fictional style of space-time in the narratives actually results from the rhetorical reconstruction of natural time and space.The fictional style of space-time,as a kind of rhetoric view,could be applied to investigate and analyze the composition and development of various types of fictional style of space-time in the literary history,and its relationship with the other fictional elements such as character and plot.The rhetoric view could also be used to study the selection and organization and presentation of space-time in a novel,which will be proved to be the outcome of writers' consciously rhetorical construction and its differences from the other styles.2)About Bakhtin's view on “humorous rhetoric”: Bakhtin's view on “humorous rhetoric” is easily misinterpreted as a kind of “rhetorical technique,” because humorous effects usually rely on the application of some rhetorical techniques.However,from the Complete Works of Bakhtin,we find out that his view on humorous rhetoric is actually a kind of stylistic fusion between linguistic and superb-linguistic rhetoric.Bakhtin discusses Rabelais' s humorous rhetoric in a big context of literary history,as he thinks it is the continuation of the ancient Greek and Roman traditions and contributes to Rabelais' s creativity and humanistic thoughts.According to Bakhtin,Rabelais' s humorous rhetoric implies a kind of non-official consciousness with the presentation of vigorous scenes of the vulgar and humble lower class.Therefore,Rabelais' s humorous rhetoric is in praise of human's creativity,naissance and victory with its joyful and positive aesthetic tone.3)About Bakhtin's view on “polyphonic rhetoric”: “polyphony” occupies an important position in Bakhtin's theory,which refers to the combination of “Different independent voices” in a novel and is characterized by the nature of dialogue,unity and structure.His view on polyphonic rhetoric involves many concepts,including:“voice,” “multi-voice,” “double-voice”(non-linguistic),“dialogue”(non-communicative),and “monologue” novels and so on.“Dialogue” is the key concept of his polyphonic rhetoric.It is not a dialogue between different speaking subjects,but the one between “I” and “the other I”,as well as between “I” and “They”which differentiated from “I”.Therefore,it reflects the idea of mutual contradiction and mutual negation.Its rhetorical principles include: to organize dialogue according to ideological standpoint;to organize linguistic materials according to dialogue relations;to organize dialogue according to the inner discursive attitude of the speaking subject;to organize dialogue according to the specific field of discourse;to organize dialogue according to the connotation.Bakhtin's view on the difference between the rhetoric of polyphonic novels and that of monologue novels is full of disputation and inherent dialogism.With the attempts of integral exploration and systematic construction of Bakhtin's rhetoric,the dissertation intends to provide a rhetorical perspective into the observation and study of Bakhtin's academic thoughts,and comparatively study the similarities and differences between Bakhtin's views on super-linguistic rhetoric and the generalized rhetoric theory in China.Certainly,the study and attempts do not subvert my respect for the rhetoric views in a narrow sense,because “different rhetoric views shoulder the same academic mission” and “the respect for different rhetoric views means the respect for the presence of ideas and the equal rules for academic dialogue.”...