O łamaniu zasad — anegdota jako zjawisko karnawalizacyjne
On Breaking the Rules. The Anecdote as an Example of Carnivalization

Author(s): Przemysław Chudzik
Subject(s): Language and Literature Studies
Published by: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Śląskiego
Keywords: anecdote; carnivalization; Bakhtin; Suetonius; Diogenes Laertius; Historia Augusta
Summary/Abstract: The anecdote is an elusive literary form, but we can discourse it having in mind similarity of anecdote to progymnasmata, scholar literary exercises like chreia or diegema. The anecdote because of its probability (that arising from its structure and qualities) serves i.e. as argument, clarification, characterization, complement of source lackness. Anecdotal laugh and dread direct us to the ‘carnivalization effect’, term coined by Mikhail Bakhtin. During medieval and renaissance carnivals social norms were broken by turning upside down established rules. Carnivalization adapts this carnival language for literature, which means it transposes festive time of ‘topsy-turvy world’ to literary work. Anecdote is an example of such form influenced by carnivalization and in the narrative course makes an objection against an expected rule or desirable behaviour. In my discussing anecdote as carnivalized literary form I mainly use ancient biographies by Suetonius, Diogenes Laertius and biografical collection of Historia Augusta.

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