ABSTRACT
We have spoken of the grotesque as the unresolved clash of incompatibles, one of which is some form of the comic, and also as the ambivalently abnormal. The first is a rather abstract definition, referring to the pattern or structure fundamental to the grotesque; the second is concerned more with the content of the grotesque. Both, however, are simply different ways of talking about the same thing. It may be of some help at this stage to consider the grotesque in relation to certain other modes and categories, in order first to establish where the dividing lines are and second to see what variations there may be in the basic grotesque pattern outlined so far.
