Publisher's Synopsis
Above all in the Fabliaux and in the Mären, but also in Giovanni Boccaccio's Decameron, the presence of the grotesque was noticed early on, which is expressed above all in unleashed violence, sexual instincts and mockery of spiritual institutions. The forms of appearance of these elements, which are to be understood as part of medieval comedy, are traced by the study over a period of around 500 years in five different European literary spaces and asks about the connections between the form of literary works of art and the grotesque. This shows that the chronology of the grotesque is by no means clear due to the mutual international influence, which is also confirmed by more recent manuscript finds. In general, texts in verse seem to be more grotesque than those in prose, which allows conclusions to be drawn about the audience. But the topics that promote grotesque elements also vary from language area to language area.
