Occupying a still evolving but clearly established place in twentieth-century intellectual history, the great Russian thinker Mikhail Bakhtin is best characterized as philosopher of dialogue or human communication. Within Bakhtin's rich body of thought are numerous insights that promise fruition in fields that include linguistics and semiotics, literary theory and poetics. From their linked perspectives The Thought of Mikhail Bakhtin approaches its subject, concentrating on problems of language and literature.