A Rhapsody in Grotesque Minor: On Modern Dramatic and Theatrical Grotesqueness and the Italian Teatro del Grottesco in Particular

Abstract

As the title indicates, this essay investigates the origin and development of modern grotesqueness in drama and the theater from its inception in early 19h century (Victor Hugo in France, Georg Bichner etc. in Germany) to its culmination in the 20th century. It is a thoroughly comparative study discussing, apart from French and German/Austrian authors, playwrights and works from Russia, Sweden, Spain, Poland, and Switzerland, among others, as well as schools or movements such as

Expressionism, Dadaism, Futurism, and Surrealism. Special emphasis is put on the Italian teatro del grottesco (ca. 1914 to 1925) because it made grotesqueness its central theme and style and even--and quite justifiably so-its battle cry, as its were.