The Sources And Development Of Carnival Theory

The word "carnivalesque" is one of the most popular critical theories term in 20th century.This article is trying to seek the theory sources of carnivalesque,its different significance in different age,the reception and the variation of the term in China.Firstly,Seeking the derivation and the theory sources of carnivalesque,which can trace back to carnival.The word carnival arose after the naissance of the Christianism. But the phenomena and the theory of carnival has been there since the Greek world.We explore the development of the carnival theory from the Greece,the medieval period,the Enlightenment and Romantic periods to the 19th century.The basic characteristics of the carnival theory in this phase can be concluded as wholeness,subversion and Utopian.Secondly,We make Bakhtin's carnivalesque theory as the main object to discuss. Bakhtin not only opened up the culture meaning of carnival,but also made carnivalesque a literature critical term to analyse novel text.Thirdly,after Bakhtin,the study of carnivalesque goes on in two ways.Some scholars keep carnivalesque as a characteristic of novel text.The others study it as one of the most important characteristic of postmodern popular culture.Fourthly,the reception and variation of carnivalesque theory in China.During the process of introduction and exertion of the term,some problems have appeared,which makes the meaning of carnivalesque varied.