Grotesque Bodies in Ruined Worlds: Intermedial Experimentalism in Rita Indiana’s Environmental Grotesque

Abstract This article explores the concept of the “environmental grotesque” through an intermedial and genre-based analysis of Rita Indiana’s speculative fiction novel Tentacle . Drawing on Mikhail Bakhtin’s theories of the grotesque and Menippean satire, as well as Félix Guattari’s three ecologies, the study investigates how Indiana’s novel engages with ecological crisis, gender fluidity, and postcolonial critique. Bruhn argues that Tentacle exemplifies a form of intermedial heterogeneity, blending references to art, music, religion, and literature to construct a fragmented, dystopian world that is both critically incisive and imaginatively rich. The novel’s grotesque aesthetics are examined across three interrelated spheres: the body, the social world, and the environment. The protagonist’s radical bodily transformation, the cynical portrayal of social structures, and the depiction of a ruined yet spiritually potent oceanic world are analyzed as manifestations of the grotesque. Central to this is the tentacled sea anemone, a supernatural entity that enables time travel and symbolizes both ecological devastation and utopian potential. By situating Tentacle within the tradition of Menippean satire and reading it through the lens of the environmental grotesque, the article highlights the novel’s capacity to critique deterministic narratives of ecological collapse while gesturing toward alternative, non-anthropocentric futures. Ultimately, the article suggests that Indiana’s work, like Bakhtin’s, embraces a philosophy of openness, transformation, and unfinished becoming, offering a powerful aesthetic response to the challenges of the Anthropocene.