‘The world inside out’ in the French mediaeval romance

The article analyzes the motif of parody (in Bakhtin’s terms, ‘the world inside out’), which offers the key to an accurate historical-genetic interpretation of many characteristics specific to the novel as a genre. In the fourth chapter of his Problems of Dostoevsky’s Poetics [Problemy poetiki Dostoevskogo], Bakhtin describes carnivalesque life as one that is thrown off its usual track and somewhat resembles ‘life inside out,’ ‘the world in reverse,’ or ‘monde à l’envers.’ The same chapter contains Bakhtin’s claim that the origins of the motif go as far back as the Hellenistic and Roman traditions, and the Middle Ages and Renaissance. The article traces the genesis of the motif and its role in the 12th- and 13th-c. French romances, suggesting that, like Dostoevsky’s works, they could provide Bakhtin with examples of characteristics typical of Menippean satire. Supplementing the article are Bakhtin’s hitherto unpublished working notes on Menippean satire which were prepared for publication by N. Dolgorukova and S. Sandler.