BY THE PRISM OF POLYPHONY: a comparative study between the works The Brothers Karamazov and As I Lay Dying

• Grant number: 15/06050-5
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: June 01, 2015
• End date: February 29, 2016
• Field of knowledge: Linguistics, Literature and Arts - Literature - Modern Foreign Literatures
• Principal Investigator: Cláudia Maria Ceneviva Nigro
• Grantee: Davi Silistino de Souza
• Host Institution: Instituto de Biociências, Letras e Ciências Exatas (IBILCE). Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus de São José do Rio Preto. São José do Rio Preto , SP, Brazil

Abstract

As I Lay Dying, one of the most important works written by William Faulkner, brings a realistic picture of a typical southern family in United States. Understanding the novel as an excellent exemplification of polyphony's concept (Bakhtin, 2010b), it is possible to establish different relation points between that work and The Brothers Karamazov, a book written by the Russian writer Fyodor Dostoevsky, considered the creator of polyphony and dialogism in the novel by Bakhtin. We can notice, thus, influences and dialogues between the works, which, though written at different times, bring similar literary devices, ethical / religious questions, and features on characters' creation. Analyzing the main characters in both books (Aliêksiei Fiódorovitch Karamazov and Darl Bundren), we can see that both of them stand out and show themselves isolated from the scenario in which they live. As much as Darl Bundren feel bad for his mother's death, unlike other characters, his thinking goes beyond the common sense, since he comprehends the situation in which he lives and he knows what actions should be taken to solve the problem faced. Similarly, Aliêksiei Fiódorovitch Karamazov is also in a complicated context, with various conflicts involving his family, however, unlike his brothers and friends, he acts consciously and rationally in order to minimize as much as he can the problems. In view of the above, we propose in this research to study how the work of Faulkner dialogues with Dostoevsky's, tracing common threads that contributes on a possible new interpretation of both novels - until we know there is no similar scientific production.