Bizarre? Freakish? Just plain weird? What does the term "grotesque" really mean? Is there an art or a science to creating and to analyzing the grotesque? Since its invention as a term for subterranean decorative paintings, the label "grotesque" has come to describe not only the abject, but also a plethora of critical artistic practices and unusual scientific phenomena, from supposed monstrous births to the slapstick films of Charlie Chaplin. By exploring an interdisciplinary array of figures and theories, our course will challenge prevailing assumptions about the relationships between art and science, and seek to understand the critical potential of the grotesque.

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