ves a full play to the spirit of subversion, dialogue, transgression and changes andrenewal.
With reference to Bakhtin's carnival theory, an attentative examination of Midnight'sChildren exhibits that the novel abounds with carnivalesque elements, like carnival language,material body principle, laugher, parody, grotesque imagery and heteroglossia, etc. Bakhtin'scarnival theory is both a type of cultural poetics and a type of stylistic poetics. As a type ofcultural poetics, carnival theory not only reveals the influence of folk culture on the languageand characterization of literary creation, but also helps to unearth the literary value ofgrotesque and vulgarity which were marginalized by classic aesthetics in the literary history.
As a type of stylistics, carnival theory contributes to the interpretation of literary works a newperspective and methodology – dialogue. Rushdie's linguistic practice proves to be aquintessence of an avant garde literary attempt. This concept of carnival speech as a languagefree from official norms and used deliberately to subvert official linguistic standards, acquiresa particular significance for the postcolonial writer. Rushdie's another artistic attainments areembodied in his ingenious characterization. Referring to carnival theory, carnival charactersare generally characterized by grotesque appearance, rebellious act, hallucinations andinsanity. Another artistic feature that serves to carnivalize the novel is the intertextualdialogue. The novel, a fertile site for the staging of the carnivalesque as a centrifugal force,provides a vantage point by which a dialogue between a plurality of ideas, ideologies andindividuals may be represented – especially in an atmosphere of weakening central control.
