This early work by the almost classic Russian cultural philosopher Mikhail M. Bakhtin, who is the originator of important literary theoretical concepts such as dialogism, polyphony, and carnivalism, is the key to his entire oeuvre. Its subject is a previously scarcely examined topic in art and literary studies: the relationship between the artist or author and the main character - the hero - of a work. Based on this relationship, the essay, published in Russian half a century after its creation, discusses the philosophical and cultural prerequisites of the relationship between the self and an Other perceived by it. The volume includes an introduction, a detailed commentary, and an afterword by the editors.