Polyphonic novels

Not at first sight--obviously, they are the first words of the paragraph. Simply standing alone, polyphonic novels means "many sounds novels." The author here may be using an established convention of description in using the term--it is one with which i am unfamiliar. I haven't kept up on literary criticism in English since i left university however. I rather suspect this is one of those terms which literary types make up in order to have something to write about, and justify their tenure at a university. The self-evident use of it here is that the author has provided a set of characters from which it is difficult or impossible to distinguish a single protagonist--The Brothers Karamozov would be the best example from Dostoevsky--and hence, the critic alleges "many voices" in the novel, deciding to give this the rather pretentious name "polyphonic"--"many voices."

'Polyphonic novel:

A term used by Mikhail Bakhtin to describe a dialogical text which, unlike a monological text, does not depend on the centrality of a single authoritative voice. Such a text incorporates a rich plurality and multiplicity of voices, styles, and points of view. It comprises, in Bakhtin's phrase, "a plurality of independent and unmerged voices and consciousnesses, a genuine polyphony of fully valid voices." '

Ah, googling-- gotta love it.

Thanks.

I'd read your replies later. My eyes sore now. Gotta have a rest.