Carnival play and social subversion in the life and adventures of buskin by Francisco de Quevedo
Апстракт
Starting from the criticism which Mikhail Bakhtin dedicates to Francois Rabelais's work Gargantua and Pantagruel (1532-1564), this article has analyzed the carnival image of the Spanish picaresque novel The Life and Adventures of Buscon (1626) by Francisco de Quevedo, and especially the "carnival series", closely studied by Bakhtin. The focus of the paper is on the chapters selected as the most important to the topic we are interested in. In Buscon, the constituent elements of the carnival: laughter, humor, life, death, eschatology manifest in an original way and almost beyond the frames of the picaresque. Carnival and the carnivalesque are not related to the spiritual but to the material, as a basic element in the picaresque novel. In this novel Carnival has become a laudatory song of materiality where the body and all the material are essential. Carnival also covers the field of play-roles and the radical change of identity. Buscon is a parody novel, where the writer is the highest a...uthority of the narrative process and the grotesque world whose ideology and social elitist concept gives the novel a range of originality, cruelty and lack of compassion. Thus, the novel becomes an inquisitorial process under the control of the Spanish novelist. In fact, during the carnival and the punishment of the inquisitorial procession each participant can be both an aggressor and a victim, depending on the situation and the judge. Consequently, Buscon is a novel that plays with Carnival and manifestations of popular Spanish tradition and changes the essence and nature of the carnival spirit, foregrounding the ideology of the author on the evil manifestations of the current society. Also, the novelist describes a failed attempt of social subversion by the rogue and obviously uses carnival references distorting and adapting them to his goal to expose the rogue and social mystification. The carnivalesque world of fiction serves to create a utopia, an inverted world, an alternate reality marked by the triumph of the dominant social vision of the author, an ambiguous world where the ambiguity is resolved in prevalence of 'social demystification' on 'carnivalesque mystification', as it seeks to become a true social mystification, under the transformation of a rogue to an impeccable nobleman.
Кључне речи:
The Life and Adventures of Buscon / Spanish picaresque novel / social subversion / Francisco de Quevedo / carnival vision / Bakhtin's criticismИзвор:
Наслеђе : часопис за књижевност, уметност и културу, 2014, 11, 28, 185-196Издавач:
- Крагујевац : Филолошко-уметнички факултет
Институција/група
Filološki fakultet / Faculty of PhilologyTY - JOUR AU - Karanović, Vladimir PY - 2014 UR - https://repff.fil.bg.ac.rs/handle/123456789/940 AB - Starting from the criticism which Mikhail Bakhtin dedicates to Francois Rabelais's work Gargantua and Pantagruel (1532-1564), this article has analyzed the carnival image of the Spanish picaresque novel The Life and Adventures of Buscon (1626) by Francisco de Quevedo, and especially the "carnival series", closely studied by Bakhtin. The focus of the paper is on the chapters selected as the most important to the topic we are interested in. In Buscon, the constituent elements of the carnival: laughter, humor, life, death, eschatology manifest in an original way and almost beyond the frames of the picaresque. Carnival and the carnivalesque are not related to the spiritual but to the material, as a basic element in the picaresque novel. In this novel Carnival has become a laudatory song of materiality where the body and all the material are essential. Carnival also covers the field of play-roles and the radical change of identity. Buscon is a parody novel, where the writer is the highest authority of the narrative process and the grotesque world whose ideology and social elitist concept gives the novel a range of originality, cruelty and lack of compassion. Thus, the novel becomes an inquisitorial process under the control of the Spanish novelist. In fact, during the carnival and the punishment of the inquisitorial procession each participant can be both an aggressor and a victim, depending on the situation and the judge. Consequently, Buscon is a novel that plays with Carnival and manifestations of popular Spanish tradition and changes the essence and nature of the carnival spirit, foregrounding the ideology of the author on the evil manifestations of the current society. Also, the novelist describes a failed attempt of social subversion by the rogue and obviously uses carnival references distorting and adapting them to his goal to expose the rogue and social mystification. The carnivalesque world of fiction serves to create a utopia, an inverted world, an alternate reality marked by the triumph of the dominant social vision of the author, an ambiguous world where the ambiguity is resolved in prevalence of 'social demystification' on 'carnivalesque mystification', as it seeks to become a true social mystification, under the transformation of a rogue to an impeccable nobleman. PB - Крагујевац : Филолошко-уметнички факултет T2 - Наслеђе : часопис за књижевност, уметност и културу T1 - Carnival play and social subversion in the life and adventures of buskin by Francisco de Quevedo EP - 196 IS - 28 SP - 185 VL - 11 UR - conv_1763 ER -
@article{ author = "Karanović, Vladimir", year = "2014", abstract = "Starting from the criticism which Mikhail Bakhtin dedicates to Francois Rabelais's work Gargantua and Pantagruel (1532-1564), this article has analyzed the carnival image of the Spanish picaresque novel The Life and Adventures of Buscon (1626) by Francisco de Quevedo, and especially the "carnival series", closely studied by Bakhtin. The focus of the paper is on the chapters selected as the most important to the topic we are interested in. In Buscon, the constituent elements of the carnival: laughter, humor, life, death, eschatology manifest in an original way and almost beyond the frames of the picaresque. Carnival and the carnivalesque are not related to the spiritual but to the material, as a basic element in the picaresque novel. In this novel Carnival has become a laudatory song of materiality where the body and all the material are essential. Carnival also covers the field of play-roles and the radical change of identity. Buscon is a parody novel, where the writer is the highest authority of the narrative process and the grotesque world whose ideology and social elitist concept gives the novel a range of originality, cruelty and lack of compassion. Thus, the novel becomes an inquisitorial process under the control of the Spanish novelist. In fact, during the carnival and the punishment of the inquisitorial procession each participant can be both an aggressor and a victim, depending on the situation and the judge. Consequently, Buscon is a novel that plays with Carnival and manifestations of popular Spanish tradition and changes the essence and nature of the carnival spirit, foregrounding the ideology of the author on the evil manifestations of the current society. Also, the novelist describes a failed attempt of social subversion by the rogue and obviously uses carnival references distorting and adapting them to his goal to expose the rogue and social mystification. The carnivalesque world of fiction serves to create a utopia, an inverted world, an alternate reality marked by the triumph of the dominant social vision of the author, an ambiguous world where the ambiguity is resolved in prevalence of 'social demystification' on 'carnivalesque mystification', as it seeks to become a true social mystification, under the transformation of a rogue to an impeccable nobleman.", publisher = "Крагујевац : Филолошко-уметнички факултет", journal = "Наслеђе : часопис за књижевност, уметност и културу", title = "Carnival play and social subversion in the life and adventures of buskin by Francisco de Quevedo", pages = "196-185", number = "28", volume = "11", url = "conv_1763" }
Karanović, V.. (2014). Carnival play and social subversion in the life and adventures of buskin by Francisco de Quevedo. in Наслеђе : часопис за књижевност, уметност и културу Крагујевац : Филолошко-уметнички факултет., 11(28), 185-196. conv_1763
Karanović V. Carnival play and social subversion in the life and adventures of buskin by Francisco de Quevedo. in Наслеђе : часопис за књижевност, уметност и културу. 2014;11(28):185-196. conv_1763 .
Karanović, Vladimir, "Carnival play and social subversion in the life and adventures of buskin by Francisco de Quevedo" in Наслеђе : часопис за књижевност, уметност и културу, 11, no. 28 (2014):185-196, conv_1763 .