The Grotesque in Art and Literature: Theological Reflections

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While there has been a growing interest in the use of grotesque imagery in art and literature, very little attention has been given to the religious and theological significance of such imagery. This fascinating book redresses that neglect by exploring the religious meaning of the grotesque and its importance as a subject for theological inquiry.

The discussion begins with the debate over both the definition of the grotesque and theoretical approaches to understanding its meaning and importance for the late twentieth century. Wilson Yates engages with the thought of four leading contemporary theorists -- Wolfgang Kayser, Mikhail Bakhtin, Geoffrey Galt Harpham, and Ewa Kuryluk. James Luther Adams considers the appearance of the grotesque in contemporary social and political crises and its implications for our future. Roger Hazelton reflects on how both theology and grotesque art speak to the mystery of being human in an unmanageable world.

The discussion continues with the treatment of the grotesque in the visual arts. Margaret Miles discusses the female body as the focus of the grotesque in medieval times. Wolfgang Stechow examines the significance of grotesque imagery in the paintings of the fifteenth-century Dutch artist Hieronymus Bosch. John W. Cook explores the use of "ugly beauty" in Christian art. A second essay by Wilson Yates provides an in-depth look at the religious iconography and grotesque imagery in the work of the twentieth-century artist Francis Bacon.

The final three chapters consider the use of the grotesque in the literary arts. Yasuhiro Ogawa discusses Shakespeare's use of the grotesque in Hamlet. Susan Corey looks at the work of Toni Morrison, specifically her use of the grotesque in her novel Beloved. The volume concludes with an original work -- published here for the first time -- by poet laureate Robert Penn Warren, a stage adaptation of his poem Ballad of a Sweet Dream of Peace, complete with an introduction by the author.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0802842674
• ISBN13: 9780802842671
• Release Date: September 1997
• Publisher: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company
• Length: 301 Pages
• Weight: 0.92 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 6.0" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

A fascinating look at the grotesque's religious implications

Standing always at the edge of society's consciousness is a group of artistic works that repel as they fascinate: the grotesque. Dismissed by the "respectable," and often condemned for their absurdity, incongruity, and perceived immorality, they nonetheless hold powerful sway in the popular imagination. Sordid pagan tales of incest and bloodletting, the medieval carnival, commedia dell'arte--these popular uprisings of the grotesque imagination reveal, through their marginalized position in the cultural scene, deep seated impulses that polite society has suppressed. Yates surveys four major theoretical approaches to the grotesque-Wolfgang Kayser's grotesque as demonic "other," Mikhail Bahktin's edenic carnival, Geoffrey Harpham's notion of the grotesque as the process of becoming, and Ewa Kuryluk's feminist interpretation of the grotesque as an expression of subdued or oppressed "anti-worlds." Yates uses these theorists to identify major themes in grotesque art that speak to religious impulses: bafflement over the meaning of human existence; the dread of non-existence; man's ability to create; and our perception of the world as fallen. Roger Hazelton's "The Grotesque, Theologically Considered" seems to express the central insight of this book: that the grotesque, like theology, forces us to reflect on mystery properly conceived. As Hazelton says: Mystery is not a synonym for residual ignorance which will be dispelled when the sciences get around to it. Neither can it simply be equated with the unknown or unknowable. . . . Theology and grotesque art . . . find a certain affinity in a common persuasion that mystery remains a real and radical feature of our existing in the world-something not reducible to the aims and methods of technical expertise . . . thus compelling other kinds of human response and acknowledgment. For Hazelton, the grotesque, in expressing the mystery of Being recalls to us theology's enunciation of "that abiding, confiding trust and loyalty called faith." Also notable in this collection is Wolfgang Stechow's consideration of Hieronymus Bosch, whose Garden of Earthly Delights was placed by Spain's King Philip II at the altar of the Escorial. Bosch has long been a puzzle to art critics and the faithful alike. Praised by a Spanish monk at the time of its completion as a bold representation of man "as he is on the inside," the painting, with Dante's Inferno, ranks among the best commentaries of the grotesque nature of sin. The book also boasts an excellent examination of the gravedigger's scene from Hamlet and a previously unpublished play by Robert Penn Warren, Ballad of a Sweet Dream of Peace: A Charade for Easter. The only disappointment in the collection is the essay that James Luther Adams wrote in the '70s before abandoning the project for a quarter century. "The Grotesque and Our Future" studiously avoids discussion of the deeper insights about man and religion the grotesque affords, instead confining himself to banal