Typological problem of a novel in the scientific understanding of M. M. Bakhtin

The author of the article argues the canonization of Bakhtin's ideas and appeals to thorough analysis of methodological grounds of the works of this scientist. On the material of different Bakhtin's works the author shows the synthesis of theoretical (deductive) and historical approaches to the study of novel forms, and besides he reveals the complex character of the criterion for typology of novels (chronotope, the way of construction the image of the main character, the image of the author in a novel)