The Grotesque Image of the Body in Sarah Kane’s Blasted: A Bakhtinian Reading

The aim of this study is to introduce some of the key theoretical propositions regarding the concept of grotesque and the body by Mikhail Bakhtin in his book Rabelais and His World and to adopt them to Sarah Kane’s play, Blasted, as a modernist example of grotesque. The material bodily principle, duality of the grotesque image of the body, cosmic nature of the grotesque-bodily images, importance of exterior orifices and abusive language and the body are discussed throughout this paper to propose a new reading of the play. In this paper we argue how Kane has renewed the tradition of the grotesque by her depiction of grotesque-bodily images in terms of Bakhtin’s views which focus on the body as a fundamental category of the grotesque. Since no one has made an extended study of the grotesque in Kane’s drama, this paper may help us gain a more meaningful insight into the phenomenon in relation to her plays.