Belokon S.A. Carnivalization as way of creating special artistic world in intellectual prose by Konstantin Vaginov and Vsevolod Ivanov

The article addresses carnivalization as a way of creating a special artistic world in the intellectual prose by Konstantin Vaginov and Vsevolod Ivanov. The study is based on literary criticism works by M. Bakhtin (The Creative Work of François Rabelais and the Folk Culture of the Middle Ages and Renaissance, in particular) and cultural studies writings by J. Huizinga. A detailed consideration of M. Bakhtin’s understanding of carnival and carnivalization is presented. The research material includes novels The Works and Days of Svistonov and Bambochada by K. Vaginov, as well as U and The Adventures of Fakir by Vsevolod Ivanov. The analysis takes into account the genre features of these works, i.e. their affiliation with intellectual prose. The conclusion is made that carnivalization in Russian intellectual prose of the 1920s–1930s became a way of artistic interpreting the new reality. It enabled the creation of a distinctive world where reality appears in a distorted, ambivalent light. Through grotesque, parody, and play, the authors expressed the crisis of values and the contradictions of the new era.