Grotesque Body Theory

Although the concept of body was suppressed and underestimated for a long time in the history of human culture, it has now won the graces of the contemporary and become the focus of many research fields. Among the research models, Bakhtin's theory of grotesque body is unique. In spite of its important position in all Bakhtin's theories, the study of this theory is not satisfactory. With the methods of both history and logics, this thesis is to analyse step by step this theory. Furthermore, I'll put this theory in the context of Chinese contemporary cultural study to look into its inspiration to Chinese contemporary literary creation. The whole thesis consists of five parts in addition to a brief introduction which contains the cause of this study, its research value and the literary review of this subject. Ⅰ.The theory of grotesque body and Bakhatin's system of theories. Existence and Dialogue are the soul of Bakthin's thinking. In this part, the theory of grotesque body is examined in the context of the whole system of Bakhatin's theories. As an organic component, the theory of grotesque body cannot be separated from the whole system of Bakhatin's theories, which will help us to understand the theoretic value of this theory. The theory of grotesque body deepens Bakhatin's early thinking about body and adopts the quintessence of his dialogue theory and poetics of carnivalization. Ⅱ.Formation of the theory of grotesque body. The passionate interest in body in East Orthodox Church, the stress of incarnation and human nature and the emphasis of collectiveness of the Russian, all contribute to the formation of Bakhatin's theory of grotesque body. In addition, the dialogue of Bakhatin with Rabelais through Gargantua and Pantaquurnet, and the study before Bakhatin, especially the study of Hugo, also play an important role in the formation of the theory of grotesque body. Ⅲ.The creativeness of research perspective and research method. The key point of the creativeness of Bakhatin's study lies in the uniqueness of his research perspective and research method. First, the new research perspective. The world of humorous folk culture is the matrix of the theory of grotesque body. Bakhatin's study of body on the basis of humorous folk culture differs from others'study about Rabelais, which makes his theory of grotesque body different from others. Second, the new research method. Bakhatin makes his theoretic thinking and explanation on the basis of textual analyses, adopts both the methods of "inner study"and "outer study", that is , he tries to catch the meaning of grotesque body in the whole unity of conclusive humorous folk culture; but he does not forget the analyses of the image of grotesque body itself. In addition, it is also noticeable that Bakhatin uses the method of dialogue and analysizes the movement of grotesque body. Ⅳ.The theory of grotesque body. This is the main part of this thesis. First, the position of grotesque body as an central image in the theory of grotesque realism is given. Second, the image of grotesque body always expresses itself in the form of exaggeration, transformation or metaphor. Third, the essential features of grotesque body. It deconstructs the traditional body theory. The theory of grotesque body is against to the asceticism in Middle Ages who hates the body essentially. And comparing with classical and modern theory of body, the theory of grotesque body are more interests in the continuity and openness of the body. Grotesque body belongs to carnival culture. Festiveness is taken as the center of the carnival. It is believed to be necessarily and importantly connected with time. And therefore, the main points to be discussed in this part are the connections between biological time and carnival time, and the negation of the concept of special time and space. It is the negation that decides the duality of grotesque body. The main part of carnival is the happy grotesque body, and the experience of this carnival world is achieved through body experiencing. Thus what is the most important is the free connection. The origin of the word carnival is closely connected with body. Grotesqueness is the representation of carnival spirit in literature. The theory of grotesque body is the important category of poetics of carnivalization .The theory of grotesque body embeds the spirit of carnival. One body...