[Hardy-l] The grotesque in Hardy

[Charles.Anesi at wellsfargo.com]

Cool. Sounds like "A grotesque character is a character that creates
cognitive dissonance in the reader by possessing attributes that are
incongruous or vary significantly from expectation" could be a concise
definition.       


Chuck Anesi
charles.anesi at wellsfargo.com
office 480-575-3478
cell 612-940-3345
fax 480-575-3519
 
** These opinions are strictly my own and not necessarily those of Wells
Fargo **

This message may contain confidential and/or privileged information. If
you are not the addressee or authorized to receive this for the
addressee, you must not use, copy, disclose, or take any action based on
this message or any information herein. If you have received this
message in error, please advise the sender immediately by reply e-mail
and delete this message. Thank you for your cooperation.


-----Original Message-----
From: Jackie Wilkinson [mailto:jacky at wilkinson1.eclipse.co.uk] 
Sent: Tuesday, April 01, 2008 10:40 AM
To: hardy-l at coyote.csusm.edu
Subject: RE: [Hardy-l] The grotesque in Hardy

     .Chuck wrote:  As a question for the entire group,
     is there any generally accepted literary definition of "a grotesque
     human character"?
     I would say there is no definitive because the grotesque is so
dependent on what is the accepted norm, the definitive is constantly
changing. I think Leonard Cassuto writing of Jack London in 'Literature
and the Grotesque' gives a worthy definition:
     'The grotesque is commonly viewed opposite the normal, [. . .]it is
a conflicting mixture of signals that intrudes upon the order of the
world, "the 'taboo-laden' overlap between high and low discourse'
(Stallybrass and White, p.76). This idea of disorder is central to the
working of the grotesque. Tension is the common element to virtually
every definition of the term, and transformation is its most common
association. The grotesque is hard to comprehend because it doesn't fit
neatly into a category. From distorted bodies to oddly twisted tree
branches it appears in the form of anomalies, departures from the norm
that carry a peculiar power. These category problems disturb
particularly because they question the way in which human brings impose
order on the world. The grotesque causes profound distress by bridging
and therefore attacking these categories. [. . .] The grotesque may
therefore be seen as a breech of fundamental categories surrounding the
definition of what is human. Neither one thing nor another, the
grotesque is instead a distortion, conflation, or truncation that is
simultaneously both and neither - and it thus questions the image of the
human.' (pp.114-115)
     'I trust I make myself obscure' (Robert Bolt 'A Man for All
Seasons)
     Jacky Wilkinson
     

_______________________________________________
Hardy-l mailing list
Hardy-l at coyote.csusm.edu
http://coyote.csusm.edu/mailman/listinfo/hardy-l