Buried Treasures: The Grotesque and Sublime in René Barjavel's La Nuit des Temps.

René Barjavel's La Nuit des temps creates a world where an ancient civilization is discovered buried deep within the Antarctic ice. This science-fiction novel draws on imagery reminiscent of Mikhail Bakhtin's François Rabelais and His World , most notably the grotesque, the sublime, and the carnival. This article explores grotesque and sublime imagery that Barjavel's novel employs. Rather than being complimentary, as Bakhtin suggests, they become conflicting in La Nuit des Temps. Communication and the role of social classes become a central tenant as we read of privileged views and participation in social circles and public spheres. To seek resolution for the conflicting agents/images of the grotesque and of the sublime, dialogue and communication become what carnival was for Bakhtin —a means to alleviate social friction. Ultimately, by reading La Nuit des temps through the lens of Bakhtin's grotesque and sublime, the conflict resolution he describes as coming through carnival is absent, and resolution is attempted via communication and dialogue. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]