‘Man carries all animals within himself’

This article addresses Rubens’s perspective on the human-animal by focusing on the satyr as one of his favourite mythological characters. This profoundly liminal being appears in a variety of roles throughout his oeuvre, including several paintings that remained in his private collection. In some of them, the satyr is primarily a figure for unbridled lustfulness and sensuality. In many others, however, this hybrid creature appears to hold the key to some of the mysteries of nature itself. Another facet of this analysis concerns the long-standing connection between this mythological character and literary satire. Rubens’s satyr-themed images bear a number of salient qualities of this literary genre as one that destabilizes boundaries: between the beautiful and the repulsive, the tragic and the comical, the sublime and the grotesque.

The Grotesque World in The Heart is a Lonely Hunter

This article is going to explore the reasons leading the figures grotesque and the way out of such world, with the help of Bakhtin’s theory of grotesque realism, via linking the duality of physical part with the grotesque to analyze the three main characters’ physical characteristics, social relationships and mental world. Singer, Mick and Biff are the distinct characters in Carson McCullers’s novel The Heart is a Lonely Hunter. Their lives are shot through with frustration and discouragement and the intense privacy of their inner lives gives the reader the impression that they are isolated, lonely beings. They try to build connections with others but eventually they fail. The following are the reasons: Firstly, they cannot identify themselves with the majority due to their physical problems, which further lead to their mental crisis. Secondly, they are alienated from the majority in society while they communicate with the ones who cannot end their isolation, which enforces their alienation. Finally, loneliness grips them so powerfully that they cannot come out of their grotesque dreaming world centering on the truth or idea or purpose they have created for themselves. Therefore the way out is to experience the social reality, to express ideas, share care and love with others. Through the interpretation of this novel, the point of this article is to explain the reasons and the ways out of alienation, the keyword in the grotesque world.

Groteska kroppar i folkhemmets sverige

Grotesque bodies in the Swedish folkhem: Improper aesthetic and rhetoric in the magazine PUSS 1968–1974 In an analysis of the Swedish satirical magazine PUSS (1968–1974) this article explores what is considered as improper rhetoric and aesthetic in the public sphere. It draws on theories of representation and the culture of carnival laughter and the grotesque as well as research on the Swedish folkhem and satire and democracies. I coin the concept demogrotesque-atic in order to capture how PUSS, by using comics, grotesque bodies and carnivalesque, improper rhetoric and aesthetics, makes visible fundamental challenges to democratic societies. I argue that the magazine’s representational practices highlight the function of what is often considered ‘filth’ in the public sphere and the central role the grotesque body plays in upholding – and breaking – boundaries of propriety. I interpret this as important democratic work, and demonstrate that while the satire in PUSS is situated in a specific time and place, it is also part of a longstanding literary and artistic tradition.

Contradictions of Modern Society: The Poor, the Gamblers and the Grotesque Sovereignty

The present article considers a fundamental problem of modern societies that manifests in the phenomena of poverty and wealth. This problem will be addressed by drawing on three thinkers who provide insights that will be condensed into one coherent theoretical position: Luhmann, Hegel and Foucault. Traversing these positions will allow to show in what way a constellation of their thoughts can help to understand pressing issues of modern society.

Contra invidentium effascinationes: Prophylaxis and the evil eye in some gems of the republican Roman era with grotesque subjects

In the glyptic repertoire of roman-republican age, numerous subjects that must be recognized as amulets with probaskanica function. These objects are designed to protect the owner from the negative effects of the evil eye. The ridiculous and caricatural aspect often seen in these engraved gems characterized the grotesque and/or deformed beings such as hunchbacks, bald, dwarfs, pygmies. A further common typical element is the sexual hypertrophy, another characteristic that, in literature, has always been associated with a clear apotropaic function. From a functional perspective, all these features would contribute to identify these characters as useful expedients to ward off the charm. Instead, from a perspective of antithetical analogy, they communicate positive symbolic concepts, such as the fullness of life, fertility, rebirth and victory over death. Thanks to the analytical study of some pictures engraved in gems conducted by the authors, it has been possible to define a singular set similar for style, subject and type of material, produced between the second and first century BC in the Italian peninsula. The paper intends to explain the figurative and material elements, both constant or variable, that contribute to reinforce the symbolic and amuletic meaning of these gems.

Writing the Grotesque in Jesmyn Ward's "Salvage the Bones"

In her work, Jesmyn Ward has revitalized the Southern Gothic tradition and its tropes to better reflect the realities of Black American life in the 21st century. This essay explores the reconfiguration of the grotesque body in Ward's sophomore novel, Salvage the Bones, which follows an impoverished Black family in Mississippi in the days leading up to Hurricane Katrina. In contrast to her literary predecessors, Ward defines the grotesque as a state of debility imposed on Black bodies and then deemed uniquely problematic to them as a class and race, rather than the result of centuries of structural oppression. As such, she understands the trope as encompassing far more than bodily or intellectual difference, the way in which it was previously utilized by Southern writers like William Faulkner and Carson McCullers. Instead, Ward theorizes the grotesque as a biopolitical state, in which populations that do not conform to the status quo, and specifically the dominant capitalist mode of production and consumption, are driven to the margins and their lives deemed expendable.

Large infantile haemangioma of the cheek: A case report

Infantile haemangiomas (IH) or Strawberry naevi as were previously called are common neoplasms of childhood. The tendency to spontaneously involute differentiates this tumour from other vascular neoplasms. Though many treatment modalities have been described with advances in understanding of tumour pathology, it has been consistently found that minimal intervention under watchful observation offers the best chance of getting the best result in the long term. Though parents are extremely nervous, seeing the grotesque nature of these tumours, patient, firm counselling and reassurance is all that is required in most cases for successful management.

Grotesque in The Vey Short stories of Palestinian Female Writers

This research aims to study the application of the Grotesque technique on the characters of the very short story written by Palestinian female writers. The study includes three examples of very short stories by Palestinian female writers from different sectors: Israel, West Bank and Gaza Strip, and the diaspora. It attempts to find the connection between the grotesque reality that emerged after the war in 1948 and its effects and changes in society, politics and economics. Therefore, we will monitor the topics written by Palestinian female writers in the very short story because of the preferences that this genre achieves that do not exist in other literary genres such as reduction, brevity, intensification. We reveal the extent to which the Grotesque technique is used to express marginalized feminist issues, and to find similarities and differences between stories in the application of the Grotesque technique on the characters. We found That the Grotesque technique used in the stories to distort the contours of the characters. The characters do not behave as normal but are somewhat willful, and act as a mechanism. The character of the woman is absent and invisible and her voice is inaudible. Women's personality in various situations is a negative recipient.

C. Orff. stage cantata «Carmina Burana»: grotesque as a means of creating an artistic image of the Fried Swan

The purpose of the article is to analyze the image of the Fried Swan from the stage cantata of Carl Orff "Carmina Burana" through the category of grotesque - the worldview principle in the culture of the Middle Ages and one of the leading types of artistic imagery in art nouveau. The paper reviews literary and musicological research on the grotesque as an aesthetic category and its application as a method of revealing the artistic image. What is being analyzed: the aesthetics of vagrant poetry, which is the basis of the libretto of Karl Orff's stage cantata; traditions of interpretation of the image of a swan in mythology, folk culture, folklore of different peoples of Europe, Christianity, literature of the Middle Ages, the Renaissance and the New Age, in particular in Romanticism, as well as in the fine arts; features of Latin poetry in general and "Swan Song" from the poetry of vagrants in particular; application of alliteration; a variant of translation into Ukrainian is provided, which is intended for a more accurate understanding of the essence of the image, reveals its new facets and is addressed to the performers of the Fried Swan part in the preparatory period of work on the image, as well as listeners. The image of the Fried Swan is the embodiment of "grotesque realism" (A. Gurevich) of the Middle Ages. The methodology is based on the application of a holistic musicological analysis, which includes philosophical-aesthetic, literary-linguistic and musical-theoretical levels. The scientific novelty of the work lies in the application of the grotesque as a philosophical and aesthetic category for studying, in particular, one of the most original images of K. Orff's work and the concept of modern musical theater in general. Therefore, the artistic and aesthetic interpretation of the figurative sphere of the cantata is considered relevant, and this work is the first such attempt in Ukrainian musicology. Conclusions. The image of the Fried Swan embodies the grotesque, in which the high and the low, the believable and the unreal, the tragic and the comic, coexist. It reflects the mentality of the Middle Ages as a unity of antinomies and at the same time possesses the characteristic features of the culture of art nouveau, where the grotesque is a typical tool for perceiving reality. The image of the Fried Swan can be considered as a kind of "key" for understanding two "artistic mentality" at once - of the Middle Ages and of the Art Nouveau.