The Artistic Carnivalization Of Tristram Shandy

The carnivalization of fictional art, like the carnival of the Medieval Period, has consciously deconstructed the stiff rules imposed on fictional art, pushing the innovation of artistic expression to extremes. A false impression prevails that a novel, when stripped off the established formula, will fall into pieces and become totally unintelligible. A responsible reading of the artistic practice will, however, disclose that, while retaining the fundamental elements of novel, carnivalistic fictional art is holding a dialogue with fictional tradition, through its subversive thus pagan practice. It has convincingly demonstrated the multiplicity of artistic expression and the vitality internal to fictional art, and revealed the fact that the existing fictional art has not yet exhausted the rich source of fictional forms.Just as carnival was officially marginalized in the Middle Ages, the carnivalistic art of Tristram Shandy has been subjected to constant criticism ever since its appearance. Its fame as an artistic success culminated only as modernism and postmodernism became respectively the dominant trend in the twentieth century. The novel has now been widely recognized as the very origin from which modernism and postmodernism evolved into maturity. Regretfully, studies of its contributions have been disturbingly limited and fragmentary, which has prompted this systematic exploration of its artistic features. The present effort has revealed that, heavily influenced by Rabelais's Gargantua and Pantagruel, Tristram Shandy's fictional aesthetics, fully demonstrated in plot, thematic structure, digression, time and language, reveals the essence of Bakhtin's carnivalization.The carnivalistic plots of Tristram Shandy have challenged the linearity of plot by decomposing its internal structure, and clothing it with thematic implications. Against the popular idea that there are only two plots in the novel, the novel has, in fact, unfolded as many as three plots in its nine volumes, including young Tristram's, Toby's and adult Tristram's. Each of the three plots has deconstructed the formula of exposition, elaboration, climax and denouement—the conception of Tristram Shandy as the story's starting point,...