Identity in life and identity in art

An identity panorama in Bakhtin’s works

Abstract

This research aims to carry out an analysis of interpretative possibilities of the identity category from similar assumptions built by the Bakhtin Circle, materialized in theories such as chronotope (2018), alterity (2011) and body (1987). Once in Applied Linguistics, this research considers that subjects are situated in a certain time and space and, therefore, produce situated discursive practices. Thus, the linguistic approach is fundamental for the construction and understanding of identities, as its raw material is, precisely, language, whether it is embodied in life or in art. Thus, in addition to Bakhtinian works, we draw on considerations woven by Volochinov (2019) and Medvedev (2016) that support the previous statement and justify the relationship between the world of life and the world of art, since Bakhtin’s studies they take literature as their object and, even so, they find applicability and materiality beyond the literary. In this sense, we will first show how identity is constructed from the material conditions provided by time and space, which the author calls chronotope, and then we will observe how the categories of alterity and body contribute to formulating an idea of identity construction through language. Finally, we will discuss how these issues are refracted in the world of life and how this theory is responsive to many contemporary issues. At the end of the analysis, it was evident that the Circle’s studies on identity provide an opening for new questions and ways of thinking about this category. Furthermore, starting from these postulates, it becomes evident not only the possibility of oxygenating the theory, but also the perception of its valuable relevance.