carnivalize

English

Etymology

From carnival +‎ -ize, originating in translations of the writings of Russian critic Mikhail Bakhtin.

Verb

carnivalize (third-person singular simple present carnivalizes, present participle carnivalizing, simple past and past participle carnivalized)

1. (transitive, literature) To subvert (mainstream assumptions or literary styles) through humour and chaos.
   • 1995, Ellen E. Berry, Genders 22: Postcommunism and the Body Politic, page 47:

     Gorenshtein carnivalizes Mother Russia herself and Ivanova carnivalizes love for Mother Russia.

   • 1998, Helen Gilbert, Sightlines: race, gender, and nation in contemporary Australian theatre:

     The audience is then rapidly transported to the bizarre and excessively corporeal world of the forest people who, mostly misshapen, mute, and genetically deformed, nonetheless convey a tremendous vitality that carnivalizes classical form with formlessness.

Related terms

• carnivalization

Translations

to subvert through humor

• Finnish: karnevalisoida
• German: karnevalisieren