Notes toward an Ecological Conception of Bakhtin’s ‘Chronotope’
Abstract
Key words: Bakhtin, chronotope, road, nature poetry, American novel, Robert Frost, Jack Kerouac, poetic interconnectionMikhail Bakhtin’s concept of the ‘chronotope’ as a set of space-time relations characterising a particular genre, motif or period deserves the special attention of ecocritics. Bakhtin believed that literary texts help to sustain the vitality of their discursive, social and even natural environment: chronotopic motifs reflect, negotiate and emphasize the status of the environment in contemporary discourse. The ‘road’ illustrates how rivalling space-time configurations play out in twentieth-century literature. Typically imagined as a means of overcoming space and time in the novel, it has been for poets a site of awareness of the subject’s connections with the environment, and of reflections on their own past and future.
Palabras clave: Bakhtin, cronotopo, carretera, poesía de la naturaleza, novela norteamericana, Robert Frost, Jack Kerouac, interconexión poetica.
El concepto de “cronotopo” de Mikhail Bakhtin como un conjunto de relaciones espacio-tiempo que caracterizan un género, motivo o periodo en concreto, merece especial atención de la ecocrítica. Bakhtin creía que los textos literarios contribuyen a preservar la vitalidad de su ambiente discursivo, social e incluso del natural: los motivos cronotópicos reflejan, negocian y ponen de relieve la situación del medio ambiente en el discurso contemporáneo. La “carretera” ilustra cómo las configuraciones rivales de espacio-tiempo se agotan en la literatura del siglo veinte. Imaginada típicamente como una forma de superar el espacio y el tiempo en la novela, la carretera ha sido para los poetas un lugar de concienciación de las conexiones del sujeto con el entorno, y de reflexiones sobre sus propios pasados y futuros.
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