| This dissertation argues that the grotesque significantly shapes many tales in the Konjaku monogatari shu and numerous other short tale collections (setsuwa shu) compiled during the Heian and early Kamakura periods. While drawing from the theory of the grotesque proposed by Mikhail Bakhtin, I develop my understanding of this aesthetic in setsuwa by closely examining tales and by putting them into dialogue with other premodern literary, historical, and religious texts. Considerations of previous research on individual tales or topics related to the grotesque also figure prominently in my work. I demonstrate how representations marked by an earthy sense of the body or a concern with other unfinished and unrefined things subvert or simultaneously subvert and support the official aristocratic and ecclesiastical discourses of the Nara, Heian, and early Kamakura periods.; "Fantastic Detached Body Parts" centers on how power struggles between men are delineated in terms of magically severed heads, a hand, and penises. Vulnerability as an equalizer is a central issue here and in other chapters. In "Curious Consummations," the debasing of authority is enacted on the body through representations of copulation, conception, pregnancy, and birth even while the importance of the female body is minimized. "Who Eats Whom? Flesh-Eating Demons and Political Power Struggles" shows how oni and the horrific are essential to the premodern Japanese grotesque. Demons prove to be integral to the fears and aspirations of aristocrats and Buddhist practitioners rather than opposing forces. "The Feminization of Demons" considers the ambivalent aspects of demons in female form and the transformations of women into demons against the backdrop of the juxtapositions of women and demons in literature from other genres. Delineated as other than women, these creatures retain connections to gender-less oni and have purposes other than demonizing women. Finally, "Animal Spirits" looks broadly at wondrous animals and tengu as grotesque representations. It explores how different creatures blur the boundaries between animal, spirit, and human realms as they undermine and affirm material and spiritual values and lifestyles. |
