On M.M. Bakhtin’s marginalia in the pages of O.M. Freidenberg’s “Poetics of plot and genre”. Part 2

In the second part of the article, the authors offer an analysis of M.M. Bakhtin’s notes in the section “The Literary Period of Plot and Genre”, in the appendix “Three Plots or the Semantics of One”, and in the notes of O.M. Freidenberg’s book “Poetics of Plot and Genre”. It is noted that when reading this part of the text, the scholar continues to emphasize his interest in themes and subjects directly related to the problematics of his research in the mid-1930s. First of all, the fate of the Greek novel, specific manifestations of folk laughter culture, particularly in scenes of eating and drinking, marriage rites, and various examples from works of ancient literature and European literature, from the Middle Ages and Renaissance to the nineteenth century. In addition, Bakhtin identifies his most important sources in the bibliography. Special attention is paid to the scholar’s work with the chapter “Vulgar Realism”. Here his marginalia is present on almost all pages. By singling out the most important fragments of the characterization of vulgar realism as a special historical and literary phenomenon, Bakhtin actually compiled an outline of this chapter directly on the pages of the book. For the first time, a detailed analysis and some fragments of a book synopsis preserved in Bakhtin’s personal archive and made in the late 1930s are introduced. A comparison is made between the places marked by the scholar in the book and the corresponding fragments of the synopsis. In the course of the analysis of the outline, the time of its compilation - the late 1930s - is clarified. Evidence is given in favor of its belonging to the circle of materials preparing Bakhtin’s study of Rabelais.