Natalia M. Dolgorukova, PhD in Philology, Senior Researcher of the Department of Literary Studies, Institute of Scientific Information for Social Sciences of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Nakhimovsky Avenue, 51/21, 117418, Moscow, Russia. ORCID ID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5553-0581 ; Мaxim S. Metelev-Kudalin, Lecturer, Russian State University for the Humanities, Institute of Philology and History, Department of History of Theatre and Cinema, Chayanova Street, 15, 125047, Moscow, Russia.
The article examines the interconnection between Mikhail Bakhtin’s theory of parody and Thomas Mann’s artistic practice, using the example of Mann’s novel Doctor Faustus (1947). The authors analyze how both thinkers understood and used parody as a mechanism for renewing and revitalizing art and literary forms. Through the analysis of Doctor Faustus, whose pages in one of the editions were marked by Bakhtin, numerous examples of a parodic attitude towards art, imitation, and irony are revealed, confirming the closeness of Bakhtin and Mann’s creative views. The results of the analysis demonstrate that for these contemporary authors, parody is not only a critical tool but also a means of reviving cultural forms, facilitating dialogue between tradition and modernity. The study sheds light on the philosophical-aesthetic harmony of the ideas of two outstanding thinkers of the 20 th century regarding the nature and functions of parody.
parody; Bakhtin; Thomas Mann; “Doctor Faustus”.
10.08.2025
05.09.2025
Dolgorukova, N.M., Metelev-Kudalin, M.S. “The Art and the Theory of Parody: Thomas Mann and M.M. Bakhtin”. Literaturovedcheskii zhurnal, no. 4(70), 2025, pp. 57–72. (In Russ.)
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