Alienation and Grotesque in Flannery O'connor's Wise Blood and Oğuz Atay's Tutunamayanlar

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The term, grotesque is a technique that is used to unite oppositions such as comedy and horror, pleasure and repulsion. Originally appearing in Renaissance art, the grotesque was also employed in literature. Thomas Mann claims that “the grotesque is its most genuine style” (1991: 13) , because of the sense of loss, alienation and meaninglessness caused by the Great War. In terms of the theme of alienation, two protagonists Hazel Motes from Flannery O’Connor’s Wise Blood and Turgut Özben from Oğuz Atay’s Tutunamayanlar are significant with their almost insane representations in society. In this paper, two novels from two different countries will be analysed to observe the elements of the grotesque and revealed how the authors applied the elements in their novels to criticise and satirize the social and political corruption in their own countries.