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From Mikhail Bakhtin’s literary theory: a “polyphonic” novel is one in which multiple independent voices and perspectives coexist without being subordinated to a single authorial viewpoint. Bakhtin identified Dostoevsky’s novels as the model of polyphony. Each character speaks with genuine independence, and the novel does not offer one authoritative truth. Contemporary novels by Salman Rushdie and Toni Morrison are frequently described as polyphonic.
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