El mundo al revés: revisión del concepto y análisis de su operatividad en las prácticas escénicas de los siglos XVII y XVIII

The topsy-turvy world is a well-known concept in cultural history. However, it is often used in an intuitive way, considered to be either a theme or a motif and usually associated with «the carnivalesque». After tracing the gradual appearance of the topsy-turvy world as a historically determined cultural object, this study examines its specific rhetorical fabric, consisting of the paratactic exposition of paradoxical motifs in a descriptive macrostructure. This precise definition brings out subtle differences between works that might otherwise seem to be identical, and underscore major aesthetic changes that could go unnoticed. This will allow us to better understand the suitability of comical interludes for this form of fiction but also to question the topical link established between the topsy-turvy world, carnival and the myth of Cockaigne.