For a very long time, Bakhtin Studies have been informed by a holistic approach, which in the nearly 20 years since its inauguration by Tzvetan Todorov's Mikhaïl Bakhtine: le principe dialogique (1981) yielded a number of biographies, expositions and anthologies of, as well as introductions into, Bakhtin's writings. Simultaneously, there has been a strong trend of interpreting Bakhtin from the agenda of group rights, gender studies and post-colonial theory. A third persistent line has been the use of the Circle's writings for the purposes of analysing literary texts; this is the principal way in which Bakhtin has been turned into a constant presence in the seminar and classrooms of European and American universities.