Journal of Literature, Culture and Media Studies

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The Carnivalesque in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter


Affiliations
1 English Department, University of Isfahan, Iran, Islamic Republic of
2 Semnan University, Iran, Islamic Republic of
     

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This study sets to examine the applicability of Bakhtin’s theory of the carnivalesque to Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter. The canonical novel of the American literature published in the middle of the nineteenth century portrays the genesis of the American Puritan culture, while the polyphonic nature of the novel, it is argued, exposes the rifts of and the grotesqueness of this culture.

Keywords

Nathaniel Hawthorne, The Scarlet Letter, Bakhtin, Carnivalesque, Polyphony, Heteroglossia, Grotesque, Allegory, Marxism, Ludicrous, Classical, Realism, Parody, Romance, Puritan, Heteroglossia, Utopia, American Dream.
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  • The Carnivalesque in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter

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Authors

Hossein Pirnajmuddin
English Department, University of Isfahan, Iran, Islamic Republic of
Omid Amani
Semnan University, Iran, Islamic Republic of

Abstract


This study sets to examine the applicability of Bakhtin’s theory of the carnivalesque to Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter. The canonical novel of the American literature published in the middle of the nineteenth century portrays the genesis of the American Puritan culture, while the polyphonic nature of the novel, it is argued, exposes the rifts of and the grotesqueness of this culture.

Keywords


Nathaniel Hawthorne, The Scarlet Letter, Bakhtin, Carnivalesque, Polyphony, Heteroglossia, Grotesque, Allegory, Marxism, Ludicrous, Classical, Realism, Parody, Romance, Puritan, Heteroglossia, Utopia, American Dream.

References