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Essay / Research Paper Abstract
A seven page paper which looks at Smollett's 'Humphrey Clinker' with reference to the author's use of the grotesque and in particular his literary treatment of both Europeans and Native Americans.
Bibliography lists 6 sources
Page Count:
7 pages (~225 words per page)
File: JL5_JLclinker.rtf
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Unformatted sample text from the term paper:
In order to look at the way in which Smollett uses the
grotesque in his novels, and especially in Humphrey Clinker, it might be useful to consider a brief definition of what constitutes the grotesque and the reaction which it is intended
to inspire in the reader. Grotesquerie can take a number of forms, from the vulgar to the terrifying, but it is the way in which the two are combined which
allows the author to present events which are dark and horrific in a manner which also imbues them with a comic perspective. It is this paradoxical combination of elements which
balances the grotesque narrative, and gives the reader a double perspective on the events which are described.
Thompson (1972) makes the point that the way in which the grotesque depicts the unnatural or the abnormal is designed to
elicit a dual response: the reader is at the same time amused and disgusted. What is described is far enough removed from what is considered normal to be funny, but
contains sufficient elements of the repulsive to also inspire some degree of disgust or horror.
It is this combination of comedy and revulsion which is so skilfully balanced in the grotesque: as Thompson notes, the
initial reaction of amusement at something which is unusual gives way to a more negative reaction the further the event or description verges on the genuinely horrific. He compares the
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