ABSTRACT This essay argues that the successful political careers of certain populist leaders rhetorically enact what scholars have long recognized in art, literature, and entertainment as the grotesque. The grotesque provides a theoretically rich means for describing the vulgar and chaotic public behaviors that take strong hold among anti-elite audiences at certain points in history. By closely reading comments from political leaders cast in the grotesque mold, including Silvio Berlusconi, Hugo Chavez, and Donald Trump, this essay explains not only what the grotesque is, but also when and how it is likely to find traction in a political culture ripe for change. The essay concludes that while the grotesque may be ideologically neutral, it shows an unsettling complaisance to twenty-first-century demagoguery and may be a defining mode for our time.

中文翻译：

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论修辞怪诞：奇异时代的一种模式

摘要 本文认为，某些民粹主义领导人的成功政治生涯在修辞上体现了学者们长期以来在艺术、文学和娱乐领域公认的怪诞行为。怪诞提供了一种理论上丰富的手段来描述在历史的某些时刻在反精英观众中占据主导地位的粗俗和混乱的公共行为。通过仔细阅读以怪诞模式铸就的政治领导人的评论，包括西尔维奥·贝卢斯科尼、雨果·查韦斯和唐纳德·特朗普，这篇文章不仅解释了怪诞是什么，而且解释了它何时以及如何可能在成熟的政治文化中找到牵引力为了改变。这篇文章的结论是，虽然怪诞可能在意识形态上是中立的，但它表现出对 21 世纪煽动性的令人不安的顺从，并且可能是我们这个时代的一种定义模式。