Carnivalesque

Carnivalesque is a term used in the English translations of works written by the Russian critic Mikhail Bakhtin. It originated as "carnival" in his "Dostoevsky's problem of Poetics" and was explicated as a concept in his "Rabelais and His World". It refers to a literary mode that subverts and liberates the assumptions of the dominant style or atmosphere through humor and chaos. Bakhtin traces the origins of the carnivalesque to the concept of carnival, itself related to the Feast of Fools. This was a medieval festival held originally by the sub-deacons of the cathedral, at about the time of the Feast of the Circumcision (1 January). The humbler cathedral officials performed burlesques of the sacred ceremonies, releasing "the natural lout beneath the cassock."

Also Bakhtin derives carnival and its influence in literature from the reign of the “Serio-comical,” with the examples of Socratic dialogues and Menippean satire. Within the Socratic dialogue, carnival affects all people, attracting them to the behavior and rituals of carnival. Each individual is affected by carnival, meaning everyone is a constant participant in carnival. In the base of examples from the Menippean satire, the relativity of joy is that it subverts and creates a syncretic pageant: with humor and the grotesque, it weds and combines the sacred with the profane.

The Feast of Fools had its chief vogue in the French cathedrals, but it was also recorded a few times in England, notably in Lincoln Cathedral and Beverley Minster. Today in the United States, carnival is primarily associated with Mardi Gras, historically a time of Catholic revelry in Catholic societies that immediately precedes the Christian celebration of Lent. It has become a widespread event: during the modern Mardi Gras in several cities, ordinary life and its rules are suspended for parades and balls. The "riot" of Carnival is juxtaposed against the customary restrictions of the Lenten season. Even in the early 20th century, Bakhtin argues in Rabelais and His World that we should not compare modern Mardi Gras with his Medieval Carnival. He argues that the latter was a powerful creative event, whereas the former is only a spectacle. Bakhtin suggests that the separation of participants and spectators has been detrimental to the potency of Carnival. In some Latin American cultures, Mardi Gras carnivals are celebrated more by everyone.

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