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Harlequinade grotesque in Anglo-Saxon prose about the picaras // Tomsk State Pedagogical University Bulletin. 2024. Issue 6 (236). P. 143-151

The article is devoted to the study of the harlequinade grotesque in works whose main characters are Anglo-Saxon picaras – Roxana from the novel of the same name by Daniel Defoe (“Roxana”, 1724) and Truman Capote’s character Ottilie from “The House of Flowers” (1950). The relevance of the study is due to the recent increased interest of literary scholars in the works of Defoe and Capote, as well as the stable appeal of foreign literary scholars to the interpretation of literary prose through the lens of the aesthetics of commedia dell’arte. For the first time, a comparison is made of the two picaras with their “progenitor” – Columbine from сommedia dell’arte, and parallels are revealed between the plot collisions in the prose of Defoe and Capote with the commedia and harlequinade plots. The typological similarity of Roxana and Ottilie with Columbine, as well as Royal Bonaparte and Roxanne’s husband with Harlequin is established. Allusions to mythological and theatrical plots in “Roxana” are identified, allowing us to talk about references in the text to the tradition of English pantomime, which synthesized mythology and harlequinade. Roxana is like the eternally young and beautiful Aphrodite, and her lovers – the brewer, the jeweler, the prince and the merchant – are endowed with the traits of Dionysus, Hephaestus, Adonis and Hermes, respectively. In “The House of Flowers” there are allusions to the Italian fairy tale “Prunella” and the commedia play by L. Houseman and H. G. Barker “Prunella, or Love in a Dutch Garden” (1906). In Ottilie’s features one can discern the Italian beauty Prunella, who defeated her evil witch mother-in-law, and Columbine with her “flower” name (a columbine is an aquilegia), and the image of Royal Bonaparte refers us to the handsome Bensiabel from “Prunella” and Harlequin. The terrible and the farcical are intertwined in the fate of Ottilie, which, as in the case of Roxanne, allows us to talk about the presence of harlequinade grotesque in the works of Defoe and Capote. The author of the article highlights such functions of this artistic technique as unfolding the metaphor of the world as theater and building a dialogue with the literary and theatrical traditions of the past.

Keywords: harlequinade grotesque, commedia dell’arte, English pantomime, picara, English literature, American literature, Defoe, Capote

Harlequinade grotesque in the short stories by Ludwig Tieck // Tomsk State Pedagogical University Bulletin. 2025. Issue 6 (242). P. 126-134

This article is devoted to the study of the harlequinade grotesque in the short stories by Ludwig Tieck, a representative of the German romantic tradition. The research material is Tieck’s works “The Goblet” and “The Lovecharm”. The author of the article establishes that in “The Goblet” the prototypes of Ferdinand and Francesca are the Lovers of the commedia dell’arte, and the prototype of Albert is Pantaloon. Tieck modifies the traditional commedia plot about the conflict between the Lovers and Pantaloon (the young people run away from the old despot who does not let them get married), turning the classic story about the victory of love over calculation into a tragicomedy in which the egocentrism, illusions and fears of the Lover destroy his personal happiness. Pantaloon in the short story appears in the role of an alchemist, which is a direct reference to the work of the English playwright Ben Jonson. Tieck’s distortion of the commedia plot becomes a tool for conveying romantic irony in the work, as well as the writer’s belief that the unwillingness to fight for love is unnatural and leads to tragedy. The introduction of commedia images and motifs in Tieck’s short story “The Lovecharm” also works for romantic irony, with the help of which Tieck reveals the complexity and absurdity of human actions. The prototypes of Emilius, his bride, Roderick and Alexia are Pierrot, Pierrette, Harlequin and Ruffiana, respectively. Roderick-Harlequin is the bearer of a carnival worldview (renewing, vital and revealing human potential), and Emilius-Pierrot is the bearer of a masquerade worldview (filled with fear, suspicion and the need to conceal). The Harlequinade grotesque in the work is born at the point of collision of these two types of worldview. Thus, in Tieck’s work, the grotesque manifests itself at the character and plot levels; it is born when the buffoonish commedia aesthetics is superimposed on the gloomy background of the events depicted. The functions of the harlequinade grotesque in Tieck’s work are reduced to the theatricalization of the artistic text; the opposition of the carnival and masquerade worldviews; the transmission of romantic irony; the creation of the effect of alienation; the transmission of Tieck’s worldview.

Keywords: grotesque, commedia dell’arte, Tieck, romanticism, German literature