Genre et Non-Sens
Genre and Nonsense

Summary/Abstract: This article deals with the aesthetical significance of nonsense literature. On an international level, I will analyze different texts from the Middle Ages up to the 20th century such as the fatrasie (nonsense verse), Lügendichtung (tall tale), limerick, gallows songs, etc. I will identify several characteristics of nonsense literature such as violation of semantically logical structures (worlds turned upside down), puns, anthropomorphism, obviousness, fantastic exaggeration, and concrete poetry. Several authors like Lear, Carroll or Morgenstern have been instrumental in the literary appreciation of nonsense. This development, however, did not create an autonomous genre in itself. In fact, different forms of nonsense appear in numerous genres; nonsense serves as an antithetical esthetical practice, which highlights the playful function of literature and is directed against literary (and thus ideological) conventions.

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