The Bridge Across Forever

The Bridge Across Forever: A True Love Story by Richard Bach




Michael Bakhtin formulated the idea called dialogism while studying the nature of the literary form called 'novel'. Bakhtin identifies 'polyphony' as the greatest quality of the genre, by which he means its ability to include diverse voices within the same work. Different contradictory elements exists in a single literary work, complementing each other.



A good literary piece is one which reflects different ideological strands without affecting the central or dominant voice of the 'author'. Richard Bach's theme in the novel 'Bridge' is his search for 'soulmate' and his concept of love, and also how he find out his true soul mate. However, this idea is one among the many ideas he discussed in the work; at the same time, the idea of 'love' dominates in the work.



You can find different voices in this text; Bach who is against the institution of marriage; against the institutionalized church; against govts' intervention of individual freedom; and so on and on. Contrary to this, he a married man, he is searching for spiritual harmony, he is conservative supporter of the governmental system.



The concept of soulmate, according to Bach, is “perfect woman among many”; you cannot find a single perfect woman, but can find perfection among many. He went afer many woman and enjoyed the lifestyle. The pilot, Bach, visited several places and found new and new women everywhere . The idea does not mean he is a licentiousness, instead he believed in the superiority of the human self, and does not want to be the slave of any system. He searched for the perfection of his own self.



Bach believed in a particular religious philosophy in which an individual attains perfection by himself. He can converse with the spirits and can foresee the things. The power of the human soul is above any powers in the world.



The concepts of love and music and everything he possesses is in contrast with Leslie, his real soulmate. Love means understanding each others freedom and unique identity, she thought. The life is full of learning, they learned from each other, progressed the life with mutual trust and love.



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