When Michail M. Bakhtin's essay on the chronotope, completed in 1973, was published for the first time in German translation, the reception of Bakhtin in this country was largely characterized by carnivalism, polyphony, and dialogism. The author's suggestion to place greater emphasis on the category of space in novel analysis received comparatively little interest. From today's perspective, his indication of the inseparable unity of space and time in the novel emerges as an early contribution to a theoretical development currently discussed as the spatial turn. The reissue of the out-of-print essay "Forms of Time and the Chronotope in the Novel," accompanied by an afterword that contextualizes Bakhtin's theory of space-time historically, aims to open up connections for current debates on space in history, social sciences, and literary studies.