Mikhail Mikhailovich Bakhtin (November 17, 1895, Oryol, March 7, 1975, Moscow) was an outstanding Russian philosopher, cultural scholar, and theorist of European culture and art. He explored language, epic forms of narrative, and the genre of the European novel, creating a new theory that included the concept of polyphony, the multiplicity of voices in literary works. By studying the artistic principles of François Rabelais' novels, Bakhtin developed the theory of universal folk culture of laughter.

His works introduced concepts such as polyphony, laughter culture, chronotope, carnivalization, menippea, spiritual high and bodily low into literary studies. Bakhtin was also the author of linguistic works dedicated to the theory of speech genres and stylistics. He was the intellectual leader of a scientific-philosophical circle known as the 'Bakhtin Circle.'

Bakhtin was born in Oryol into a large family of a bank employee and later lived in Vilnius and Odessa. According to him, he studied at the Petrograd and Novorossiysk universities, although there is no documentary evidence of this. His older brother Nikolai was a philosopher and historian of antiquity.

From 1918, Bakhtin lived in Nevel, where he taught at a school and formed a circle of like-minded individuals, including M. I. Kagan, L. V. Pumpiansky, and others. In 1919, he published his first article 'Art and Responsibility.'

From 1920, Bakhtin lived in Vitebsk, where he taught and lectured on philosophy and literature. During this time, he worked on philosophical treatises and a book about Dostoevsky. In 1921, Bakhtin married Elena Alexandrovna Okolovich.

In 1924, he returned to Leningrad, where he continued to participate in seminars and debates of the 'Bakhtin Circle.' In 1928, Bakhtin was arrested but was soon released due to illness. Later, his sentence was commuted to exile in Kustanai. In 1929, his first monograph 'Problems of Dostoevsky's Creativity' was published.

After his exile, Bakhtin worked at the Mordovian State Pedagogical Institute in Saransk, but in 1937 he moved to the Tver region, where he worked as a teacher. In 1938, his right leg was amputated due to osteomyelitis.

Before the war, Bakhtin participated in the work of the Institute of World Literature, where he delivered reports on the theory of the novel. In 1946, he defended his candidate dissertation on 'Rabelais in the History of Realism' and returned to Saransk, where he worked until 1961.

Practically forgotten from 1930 to 1963, Bakhtin returned to the academic community in the 1960s thanks to the support of colleagues. In 1969, he moved to Moscow. In the 1960s and 1970s, his articles were published in 'Questions of Literature' and other publications. He published a book on Rabelais and prepared a collection of articles 'Questions of Literature and Aesthetics.'

Bakhtin is buried in section 21 of the Vvedensky Cemetery.