Harlequinade grotesque in D. H. Lawrence’s novel “Mr. Noon”

Abstract

The aim of the research is to identify the features of harlequinade grotesque in D. H. Lawrence’s novel “Mr. Noon”. The paper briefly outlines the main approaches to the study of this work, analyses the system of images, reveals the content of the “harlequinade grotesque” notion and the grounds for which Lawrence employs it. Allusions to famous English pantomimes of the XVII and XIX centuries are revealed. As a result, a hypothesis that the writer deliberately turned to the composition and imagery of the English pantomime in order to romanticise and dramatise the narrative while enhancing its comic aspect is put forward. In addition, it is found that harlequinade grotesque, the element of which in “Mr. Noon” is the English pantomime, is designed to build a dialogue with the literary and theatrical traditions of the past and act as a tool of authorial irony and self-irony. The scientific originality of the research lies both in the unexplored nature of the novel “Mr. Noon” in Russian literary studies (due to the fact that the novel has not been translated into Russian, none of Russian researchers have yet written about this work) and in the absence of studies devoted to harlequinade grotesque in Lawrence’s writings. This paper is the first to determine the influence of English pantomime on Lawrence and its role in the formation of the author’s grotesque, which is paramount to understanding the author’s intention.

References

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Author information

About this article

Publication history

• Received: August 1, 2023.
• Published: September 11, 2023.

Keywords

• Д. Г. Лоуренс
• роман
• арлекинадный гротеск
• пантомима
• театр
• D. H. Lawrence
• novel
• harlequinade grotesque
• pantomime
• theatre

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© 2023 The Author(s)
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