Description: Marriage as a problematic and endangered institution is the theme of many contemporary short stories. Using a Bakhtinian, dialogic approach, this study presents a pioneering inquiry into marriage as a literary device in the works of six authors selected from different cultural spheres and genders to provide the reader with a broad, critical overview. Because of its other-oriented, dialogic nature, marriage becomes a metaphor for communication as well as the ideal framework for the exploration of the social, psychological, and linguistic implications of the difficulty of dialogue and an individual's basic isolation. Dialogism also provides valuable insights into the textual peculiarities and stylistic characteristics of the individual works.
