The word "grotesque" comes from the French term meaning "comic", "funny", "intricate", "bizarre." This is the oldest technique in literature, which, like hyperbole, is based on exaggeration, sharpening the qualities of people, as well as the properties of natural phenomena, objects, and facts of society. But in the grotesque, the exaggeration is of a special nature: it is fantastic, in which the image is completely displayed not only beyond the so-called life-like, but also acceptable, probable from the standpoint of plausibility. An indispensable condition under which the grotesque arises (we will present you examples) is a fantastic deformation of the existing reality.
The emergence of the term
The term itself appeared in the 15th century to indicate a type of artistic imagery, very unusual. During excavations in one of the grottoes of Ancient Rome, an interesting and original ornament was discovered, in which fantastically different human, animal and plant forms intertwined.
Where is grotesque used?
Along with hyperbole, it is widely used in tales, legends and myths of the grotesque. Examples of it in these genres are very numerous. One of the brightest in the fairy tale is the image of Koshchei the Immortal.
Writers, creating characters based on the grotesque, use exaggeration as an artistic convention. Moreover, it can be realistically justified (for example, in Khlestakov’s description of Petersburg life, which is the result of this hero’s passion for lying). In the works of Lermontov, this technique is used for a romantic depiction of events and heroes. It is based, though possible, but exceptional. The boundaries between the real and the fantastic are blurred, but they do not disappear.
Grotesque base
The impossible, unthinkable, but necessary for the author to achieve some artistic effect is the basis of the grotesque. This, therefore, is a fantastic hyperbole, since the usual exaggeration is closer to reality, while the grotesque is closer to a nightmare, where fantastic visions that excite the imagination do not lend themselves to logical explanations, can become a terrifying "reality" for people. The emergence of the imagery of the grotesque is connected with the most complicated mechanisms that the human psyche has. The unconscious and the conscious interact in it. Based on exaggeration, the images that so impress us in the works created by domestic writers often often arise precisely in the dreams of characters. It is very often used grotesque. Examples from the literature are as follows: these are the dreams of Tatyana Larina and Raskolnikov.
Fantastic elements of dreams Larina and Raskolnikov
Tatyana Larina’s dream (the work "Eugene Onegin", the fifth chapter) is filled with images of monsters that are grotesque. With horror, this heroine notes in a miserable hut a fantastic dance, in the image of which the grotesque is used. Examples: a skull on a goose neck, a crab on a spider, a mill dancing on a squat.
In Raskolnikov’s dream, which is also fantastic, an image of a laughing old woman was created, which can also be attributed to the grotesque. The psychological equivalent of truth is the delusional visions of the hero: his fight with evil, which was embodied in the form of a "malicious old woman," in the end turned out to be just an absurd struggle, like the one that he carried out with Don Quixote windmills . Only wildly laughs at Raskolnikov. The more he craves to kill him frantically, the more he grows more to him.
Connection with realistic images, situations, events
The artistic images created by various authors on the basis of the grotesque seem to us absolutely absurd, implausible from the standpoint of common sense. Emotionally expressive, their striking effect is often enhanced by the fact that such imagery interacts with realistic, quite ordinary, believable events, situations.
Realistic elements in the dreams of Larina and Raskolnikov
The elements of reality in both of these works are grotesque, and not only in them: examples from the literature presented by the works of other authors also prove the presence of two elements in it (fantastic and realistic). For example, in Tatyana’s nightmare, characters, along with scary monsters, are easily recognizable by Lensky and Onegin.
In the dream of the hero Raskolnikov, the motivation for the grotesque image and the situation from the episode in which the laughing old woman is portrayed is quite real. This is just a dream-recollection of the main character about his murder. There is nothing fantastic in the ax and the criminal himself.
The use of the grotesque by satirical writers
A combination of ordinary social and everyday situations with a grotesque imagery by various satirical writers is widely used. So, the images of the city governors of the city of Glupov, one of which has an “organ” instead of brains, and the other has a stuffed head on its shoulders, were created in the History of a City by M. E. Saltykov-Shchedrin.
This story is also filled with some grotesque, incredible situations (wars against those who refused to use mustard; "wars for enlightenment", etc.). All of them are brought to the point of absurdity by the author, but for Russia they depict quite ordinary conflicts and contradictions between the people and the self-righteous authorities.
We talked briefly about what is grotesque. Examples from fiction can be cited and others. They are quite numerous. Thus, a very popular phenomenon is the grotesque. Examples in Russian can be supplemented with works by foreign authors, as this artistic device is also used very actively in their work.