Ugliness
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The following article is from The Great Soviet Encyclopedia (1979). It might be outdated or ideologically biased.
Ugliness
an aesthetic category, opposite and complementary to beauty. Ugliness describes an outwardly displayed violation of some inner standard of being. The Russian bezobraznoe denotes something unshaped, chaotic, and lacking obraz (form). Art attempts the reproduction of ugliness, which expresses the negative sides of reality, in order to portray reality in all its fullness. In this case, as has often been noted, beginning with Aristotle (see Poetics, 4. 1448 c), the artistic reproduction of ugliness, as distinct from actual ugliness, affords a certain aesthetic pleasure, connected with the mastery of the portrayal and the aesthetic discharging of negative emotions.
REFERENCES
Kagan, M. S. Lektsii po marksistsko-leninskoi estetike. Leningrad, 1963.Pages 49–68.
Rosenkranz, C. Ästhetik des Hässlichen. Königsberg, 1853.
The Great Soviet Encyclopedia, 3rd Edition (1970-1979). © 2010 The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved.
Ugliness
Avagdduugly child of Tegid Voel and Cerridwen. [Celtic Folklore: Parrinder, 35]
hairy-legged type of Queen of Sheba. [Talmudic Legend: Walsh Classical, 45]
stunted, ugly fairies; kidnapped children. [Celtic Folklore: Briggs, 21]
beady-eyed, hook-nosed crone with clubfoot and stringy hair. [Ger. Folklore: Leach, 137]
cannibalistic hag with blue face and iron claws. [Br. Folklore: Briggs, 24]
witch, stripped of lavish disguise, found to be hideous hag. [Br. Lit.: Faerie Queene]
buck-toothed, gangly teenager in love with idler, Jughead. [Comics: “Archie” in Horn, 37]
the immortal Gorgons; had serpents for hair and brazen claws. [Gk. Myth.: Zimmerman, 114]
ugly monster. [Br. Lit.: Frankenstein, Payton, 254]
medieval European church waterspouts; made in form of grotesque creatures. [Architecture: NCE, 1046]
snake-haired, winged creatures of frightful appearance. [Gk. Myth.: Howe, 108]
repulsive witch “in the north country.” [Scot. Ballad: Childe Ballads]
creature with fangs, snake-hair, and protruding tongue. [Gk. Myth.: Hall, 206]
“Nowhere on earth a more grotesque creature.” [Fr. Lit.: The Hunchback of Notre Dame]
grotesque fairies; “dourest and most ugly set of sprights.” [Br. Folklore: Briggs, 380–381]
repulsive woman with pocket-shaped mouth. [Br. Lit.: Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland]
ugly outcast until fully grown. [Fairy Tale: Misc.]
repulsive hag curses boys and girls. [Br. Legend: Brewer Dictionary, 1164]
Allusions—Cultural, Literary, Biblical, and Historical: A Thematic Dictionary. Copyright 2008 The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved.