Grotesquerie is a literary form that became a popular genre in the early 20th century. It is characterized by using the

grotesque Since at least the 18th century (in French and German as well as English), grotesque has come to be used as a general adjective for the strange, mysterious, magnificent, fantastic, hideous, ugly, incongruous, unpleasant, or disgusting, and thus ...

in its work (i.e., the work uses people or animal forms that are distorted or misshapen) for comedic effect or in order to repulse. It can be grouped with

science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel uni ...

and horror. Authors such as

Ambrose Bierce Ambrose Gwinnett Bierce (June 24, 1842 – ) was an American short story writer, journalist, poet, and American Civil War veteran. His book '' The Devil's Dictionary'' was named as one of "The 100 Greatest Masterpieces of American Literature" by ...

Fritz Leiber Fritz Reuter Leiber Jr. ( ; December 24, 1910 – September 5, 1992) was an American writer of fantasy, horror, and science fiction. He was also a poet, actor in theater and films, playwright, and chess expert. With writers such as Rober ...

, H.P. Lovecraft,

H. Russell Wakefield Herbert Russell Wakefield (1888 – 2 August 1964) was an English short-story writer, novelist, publisher, and civil servant chiefly remembered today for his ghost stories. Life Wakefield was the third of four children of the clergyman Henry Russ ...

Seabury Quinn Seabury Grandin Quinn (also known as Jerome Burke; December 1889 – December 24, 1969) was an American government lawyer, journalist, and pulp magazine author, most famous for his stories of the occult detective Jules de Grandin, published in ' ...

Mary Elizabeth Counselman Mary Elizabeth Counselman (November 19, 1911 – November 13, 1995) was an American writer of short stories and poetry. Biography Mary Elizabeth Counselman was born on November 19, 1911, in Birmingham, Alabama. She began writing poetry as a ...

Margaret St. Clair __NOTOC__ Margaret St. Clair (17 February 1911 – 22 November 1995) was an American fantasy and science fiction writer, who also wrote under the pseudonyms Idris Seabright and Wilton Hazzard. Biography St. Clair was born as Eva Margaret Neeley ...

Stanton A. Coblentz Stanton Arthur Coblentz (August 24, 1896 – September 6, 1982) was an American literature, American writer and poet. He received a Master's Degree in English literature and then began publishing poetry during the early 1920s. His first publi ...

Lee Brown Coye Lee Brown Coye (July 24, 1907 – September 5, 1981) was an American artist. Coye is probably best remembered for his black-and-white illustrations for pulp magazines and horror fiction, but he produced a variety of works in other media. Biogra ...

and

Katherine Anne Porter Katherine Anne Porter (May 15, 1890 – September 18, 1980) was an American journalist, essayist, short story writer, novelist, and political activist. Her 1962 novel '' Ship of Fools'' was the best-selling novel in America that year, but her sh ...

have written books within this genre. The term has also been used to describe

macabre In works of art, the adjective macabre ( or ; ) means "having the quality of having a grim or ghastly atmosphere". The macabre works to emphasize the details and symbols of death. The term also refers to works particularly gruesome in natu ...

artwork and movies, and it is used in

architecture Architecture is the art and technique of designing and building, as distinguished from the skills associated with construction. It is both the process and the product of sketching, conceiving, planning, designing, and constructing building ...

References

Science fiction genres Horror genres {{sf-stub

See also

References