Title: Narrative Polyphony in The Novel.. The Richness of Vision And The Diversity of Human Experience.
Authors: Saad A . Al - Saadi , Iraq
Volume: 9
Issue: 4
Pages: 52-59
Publication Date: 2025/04/28
Abstract:
Narrative polyphony in the novel is a literary technique that enriches the text by representing the complexities of the human experience across multiple points of view, based on Mikhail Bakhtin's theory of "Polyphony", which highlights the coexistence of independent voices reflecting the plurality of consciousness and ideological conflicts. This style involves not only the distribution of the narrative between different characters, but also the transition of the narrator between disparate perspectives or the use of unreliable narrators, creating an internal dialogue that reflects reality with all its contradictions. By analyzing such works as Dostoevsky's" the Brothers Karamazov", Jane Austen's" pride and prejudice", it is manifested how Polyphony allows to disassemble facts and build tangled visions that push the reader to critical sympathy. In Dostoevsky's novel, each character represents an independent existential philosophy, while Austen relies on "indirect free speech" to merge the characters' consciousness with the narrator's voice, revealing their prejudices and hidden motives. This style promotes realism via "multilingualism" (heteroglossia) that integrates diverse accents and speech patterns, imparting social depth. Despite its challenges -such as the difficulty of managing voices and maintaining cohesion-narrative pluralism remains a vital tool to untangle the human self and provide panoramic insights into issues such as identity and social conflict, making it a pillar in classical and contemporary literature, from Marquez to Arabic novels such as "cities of salt".