The phenomenon of the grotesque in modern southern fiction : some aspects of its form and function

• After a general historical outline of the term and concept 'grotesque' attention is focused on the grotesque in Southern fiction and an attempt is made to explain the abundance of this mode in the literature of the South. It can seemingly be linked to the distinctiveness of that region as compared to the rest of the United States—a distinctiveness that has been brought about by historical, geographical, sociological and economic factors.Basing the discussion on the theory of Philip Thomson, who defines the grotesque as "the unresolved clash between incompatibles in work and response," various critical approaches to the Southern grotesque are examined, all of which are found to be too all-embracing. An effort is then made to analyse the grotesque as displayed particularly in Caldwell, Capote, Faulkner, Goyen, McCullers, O'Connor and Welty. The study deals first with the macabre-grotesque, then the repulsive/frighten-ing-grotesque and finally the comic-grotesque. The last chapter is devoted to more recent authors writing in the 1960s. Their works reveal that the South is still a breeding ground for the grotesque.

Ämnesord

HUMANIORA  -- Språk och litteratur -- Litteraturvetenskap (hsv//swe)

HUMANITIES  -- Languages and Literature -- General Literary Studies (hsv//eng)

Nyckelord

Caldwell

Capote

Faulkner

Goyen

McCullers

O'Connor

Welty

macabre-grotesque

repulsive/frightening-grotesque

comic-grotesque

Philip Thomson

Det groteska i litteraturen

Publikations- och innehållstyp

vet (ämneskategori)

dok (ämneskategori)