The concept of folk laughter culture and the associated all-inclusive carnival period was created by the theorist Mikhail M. Bakhtin. This thesis examines Gaston Leroux’s novel The Phantom of the Opera (Le Fantôme de l'Opéra, 1910) from the perspective of its incorporation of elements of the Bakhtinian carnival, with particular emphasis on the Romantic grotesque. Leroux established a dialogue with the tradition of Gothic literature while introducing an innovative element into his narrative. He placed his story within a half-documentary framework, thereby presenting the initially mysterious Phantom as a rationally explainable figure. The novel has served as the basis for numerous adaptations, one of the most popular being Andrew Lloyd Webber’s musical The Phantom of the Opera (1986). While the musical largely preserves the carnival characteristics and intertextual connections of Leroux's novel, the specific nature of its medium leads to a partial transformation and in certain instances, an intensification of these elements.
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