M. M. Bakhtin in literary life of Mordovia in the 1940–1960s

the article concentrates on the understudied topic of M. Bakhtin’s role in the literary process of Mordovia, where the scholar spent almost 25 years (1936–1937, 1945–1969). By drawing on the published and archived materials, inscribed books from Bakhtin’s personal library and reports of the department that Bakhtin presided over, the author defines the scholar’s place in the literary life of Mordovia, analyses his pedagogical and scholarly activity as part of the literary process, demonstrates the role that Bakhtin played in the development of Mordovian literary studies. This approach allows the author to introduce a number of unknown or little-known archival documents, the fragments of memoirs of Bakhtin’s contemporaries and other materials which help to visualize the atmosphere of Bakhtin’s life and work in the latter 1940s–1960s. Objective: to characterize contexts of the long-standing dialogue between Bakhtin and the community of Mordovian writers, to demonstrate the scholar’s role in the literary life of Saransk and the republic. Research materials: documents from the Central State Archive of the Republic of Mordovia, inscribed books from the personal library of Bakhtin, reports of the department Bakhtin presided over, materials reflecting the cultural and literary life of Mordovia. Results and novelty of the research: the cultural and literary contexts of the Saransk period in Bakhtin’s life are reconstructed and problematized. Based on the analysis of the social and cultural-educational activities of the thinker, the character of the literary process in Mordovia, the intellectual culture itself and the role of Bakhtin in it are reinterpreted. Archival materials that have not previously been the subject of special research are introduced.