carnivalize

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary
Jump to navigation Jump to search

English

[edit]

Etymology

[edit]

From carnival +‎ -ize, originating in translations of the writings of Russian critic Mikhail Bakhtin.

Verb

[edit]

carnivalize (third-person singular simple present carnivalizes, present participle carnivalizing, simple past and past participle carnivalized)

  1. (transitive, literature) To subvert (mainstream assumptions or literary styles) through humour and chaos.
    • 1995, Ellen E. Berry, Genders 22: Postcommunism and the Body Politic, page 47:
      Gorenshtein carnivalizes Mother Russia herself and Ivanova carnivalizes love for Mother Russia.
    • 1998, Helen Gilbert, Sightlines: race, gender, and nation in contemporary Australian theatre:
      The audience is then rapidly transported to the bizarre and excessively corporeal world of the forest people who, mostly misshapen, mute, and genetically deformed, nonetheless convey a tremendous vitality that carnivalizes classical form with formlessness.
[edit]

Translations

[edit]