Mundus inversus
A topos of overturned order and reversed hierarchies.
Mundus inversus is Latin for "world upside-down." It is a literary topos where the natural order is overturned and social hierarchies are reversed, and more broadly, any kind of symbolic inversion. The words themselves are ancient, but the term has only been common in English since the 1960s.
Ernst Robert Curtius, in *European Literature and the Latin Middle Ages*, was the first to identify this topos. He illustrated it with a poem from the *Carmina Burana* ("Florebat olim studium"), which begins as a complaint about the times: youth no longer studies, learning is in decay. The poem then expands into a vision of a topsy-turvy world—the blind lead the blind into an abyss, birds fly before they are fledged, an ass plays the lute, oxen dance, plow-boys become soldiers, and what was once outlawed is now praised. Curtius concluded that the topos arises from stringing together impossibilities.
In 16th-century French culture, as Vincent Robert-Nícoud describes in *The World Upside Down in 16th-Century French Literature and Visual Culture*, calling something inverted or topsy-turvy meant labeling it abnormal, unnatural, and contrary to the natural order. The topos evokes a world returned to primeval chaos, where everything is inside-out: the cart is before the horse, only fools are wise, kings no longer rule, the belly is above the head, people behave like animals, and the elements war with each other. Used from Antiquity to the present, it is highly versatile, linked to *adynata* or *impossibilia* (a rhetorical device describing natural impossibilities). It can describe a dystopia or utopia, and can mock, deplore, criticize, or debase a person, situation, or institution. It appears in poetry, novels, adages, pamphlets, paintings, and prints.
In anthropology, folklorist Barbara Babcock, in the 1978 book *The Reversible World: Symbolic Inversion in Art and Society*, defined mundus inversus as any act of expressive behavior that inverts, contradicts, abrogates, or presents an alternative to commonly held cultural codes, values, and norms—whether linguistic, literary, artistic, religious, or social and political.
A related concept is *Pittura infamante*, a Renaissance-era defaming portrait that often uses mundus inversus motifs. An external example is the 1861 wood engraving print "The world upside down ('El Mundo al Reves')" at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, as f
- field
- Literary and cultural topos
- known_for
- Symbolic inversion of natural order and social hierarchies
- first_identified_by
- Ernst Robert Curtius
- source_work
- European Literature and the Latin Middle Ages
- associated_rhetorical_device
- Adynata or impossibilia
Lore & Background
In European Literature and the Latin Middle Ages, Ernst Robert Curtius first identified the topos, illustrating it with one of the Carmina Burana ('Florebat olim studium'), about which he comments: 'The poem begins as a "complaint on the times": youth will no longer study! Learning is in decay! But—so the thought proceeds—the whole world is topsy-turvy! The blind lead the blind and hurl them into the abyss; birds fly before they are fledged; the ass plays the lute; oxen dance; plow-boys turn soldiers. ... What was once outlawed is now praised. Everything is out of joint.' Curtius concludes with a formula for creating the mundus inversus: 'Out of stringing together impossibilia grows a topos: "the world upsidedown."'
Reader's Guide
In Renaissance-era French culture, Vincent Robert-Nícoud introduces the mundus inversus by writing: 'To call something "inverted" or "topsy-turvy" in the sixteenth century is, above all, to label it as abnormal, unnatural and going against the natural order of things. The topos of the world upside down brings to mind a world returned to its initial state of primeval chaos, in which everything is inside-out, topsy-turvy and out of bounds: the cart is set before the horse, only fools can be wise, kings no longer rule, the belly is placed above the head, people behave like animals, and the elements are at war with each other.' Widely used from Antiquity to the twenty-first century, the topos is extremely versatile and can be applied to a variety of situations. Linked to adynata or impossibilia, it can describe a dystopian or utopian world, and to mock, deplore, criticise, or debase a person, a situation, or an institution. In anthropology, folklorist Barbara Babcock defines mundus inversus as 'any act of expressive behavior which inverts, contradicts, abrogates, or in some fashion presents an alternative to commonly held cultural codes, values, and norms — be they linguistic, literary or artistic, religious or social and political.'
Did You Know?
- The term mundus inversus has been common in English only since the 1960s.
- Ernst Robert Curtius first identified the topos in European Literature and the Latin Middle Ages.
- The topos is linked to adynata or impossibilia, a rhetorical device describing a natural impossibility.
- A Renaissance-era 'defaming portrait' known as pittura infamante often depicts mundus inversus motifs.
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