On Classification and the Grotesque: Theorising Para-Genre in Early Modern Nonsense Verse and Montaigne’s Essais

Abstract

ABSTRACT It is tempting to over-simplify the status of grotesque literatures in relation to genre. This paper moves beyond the binary of adherence and violation that often frames discussions of taxonomy, and instead suggests that the grotesque is vital in the construction of generic categories. Using two examples of early modern grotesque literature, seventeenth-century nonsense verse and Montaigne’s Essais, this paper clarifies the relationship between genre and grotesque texts through examining three principles that underlie the grotesque: relationality, framing and conflict. Finally, it advances a theory of grotesque ‘para-genre’ to suggest a fertile reciprocity between genre and grotesque texts. This paper concludes that the antagonism often ascribed to the two is misplaced, and that genre is in fact sustained and reified through acts of taxonomic violation.