A Bakhtinian analysis of the heroes of four of Bulgakov's prose works.

Abstract

This thesis concerns four of Mikhail Bulgakov's prose works: Notes on the Cuff, Theatrical Novel (Black Snow), Fatal Eggs and Heart of a Dog. Bulgakov's masterpiece, The Master and Margarita, is, for the most part, excluded. The four novels, and particularly their heroes, are examined in light of the ideas of the Russian literary theorist, Mikhail Bakhtin. What is chiefly investigated is whether or not the characters in Bulgakov's works function dialogically. This inevitably leads to a certain amount of comparison with the heroes of the novels of Fyodor Dostoevsky, since Bakhtin spent so much time examining the inner workings of the nineteenth century writer's art. Another of Bakhtin's theories which is applied in this thesis is that of "consummation" (zavershenie). To what extent do Bulgakov's heroes need and receive consummation from without? Finally, some time is spent on the question of whether or not Bakhtin's theories are viable in an atmosphere of harsh and violent Juvenalian satire.