Bakhtin’s concept of the polyphonic novel — in which multiple characters speak with fully autonomous voices rather than being subordinated to a single authorial perspective — provides a powerful metaphor for understanding the self in psychotherapy.
In the polyphonic novel, as Bakhtin describes it in his analysis of Dostoevsky’s work, each character possesses their own consciousness, their own worldview, their own voice. The author does not stand above these characters directing them, but rather enters into dialogue with them as equals.
This maps onto the dialogical self theory: the self is not a unified, monological entity but a multiplicity of I-positions, each capable of voicing its own perspective. In therapy, we encounter these multiple voices — the critic, the child, the rebel, the caretaker — and the therapeutic work involves bringing them into genuine dialogue rather than silencing some in favour of others.
Bibliography
Source: Hermans, H. J. M., & Dimaggio, G. (Eds.). The Dialogical Self in Psychotherapy: An Introduction. Routledge, p. 17.
Hermans, H. J. (2004). The dialogical: Between exchange and power.