TRANSGRESSIONAL FICTION

'Transgressional fiction' or 'transgressive fiction' is a genre of literature that focuses on characters who feel confined by the norms and expectations of society and who use unusual and/or illicit ways to break free of those confines. Because they are rebelling against the basic norms of society, protagonists of transgressional fiction may seem mentally ill, anti-social and/or nihilistic. The genre deals extensively with taboo subject matters such as drugs, sex, violence, incest, pedophilia, and crime.
Some say the genre of "transgressive fiction" was defined by ''Los Angeles Times'' literary critic Michael Silverblatt. Anne H. Soukhanov, a journalist for the ''Atlantic Monthly'', described transgressive fiction thus:

A literary genre that graphically explores such topics as incest and other aberrant sexual practices, mutilation, the sprouting of sexual organs in various places on the human body, urban violence and violence against women, drug use, and highly dysfunctional family relationships, and that is based on the premise that knowledge is to be found at the edge of experience and that the body is the site for gaining knowledge. ''"Word Watch." The Atlantic Monthly (December 1996): 128.''

The genre has been the subject of controversy and many forerunners of transgressional fiction, including William S. Burroughs and Hubert Selby Jr. who have been the subjects of obscenity trials.
Transgressional fiction shares similarities with splatterpunk, noir and erotic fiction in its willingness to portray forbidden behaviors and shock readers. But it differs in that protagonists often pursue means to better themselves and their surroundings—albeit unusual and extreme ones. Much transgressional fiction deals with searches for self-identity, inner peace and/or personal freedom. Unbound by usual restrictions of taste and literary convention, its proponents claim that transgressional fiction is capable of pungent social commentary.

Contents

History

Authors of transgressional fiction

Notable works of transgressional fiction

History

The basic ideas of transgressional fiction are by no means new. Many works that are now considered classics dealt with controversial themes and harshly criticized societal norms. Early examples include the scandalous writing of the Marquis de Sade and the Comte de Lautreamont's ''Les Chants de Maldoror'' (1869). French author Émile Zola's works about social conditions and “bad behavior” are examples, as are Russian Fyodor Dostoyevsky's existentialist novels ''Crime and Punishment'' (1866) and ''Notes from Underground'' (1864) and Norwegian Knut Hamsun's psychologically-driven ''Hunger'' (1890).
Early twentieth century writers such as Octave Mirbeau, Georges Bataille and Arthur Schnitzler, who pungently explored Freudian sexuality, are also important forbearers.
In the late 1950s, American publisher Grove Press, under publisher Barney Rosset, began releasing decades-old novels that had been unpublished in most of the English-speaking world for many years due to controversial subject matter. Two of these works, ''Lady Chatterley's Lover,'' D.H. Lawrence’s tale of an upper class woman’s affair with a working class man and ''Tropic of Cancer,'' Henry Miller’s sexual odyssey, were the subject of landmark obscenity trials (''Lady Chatterley's Lover'' was also tried in the UK and Austria). Both books were ruled not obscene and forced the US literary establishment to weigh the merit of literature that would have once been instantly deemed pornographic (see Miller test).
Grove also published the explicit works of Beat writers, which led to two more obscenity trials. The first concerned ''Howl,'' Allen Ginsberg’s 1955 poem which celebrated American counterculture decried hypocrisy and emptiness in mainstream society. The second concerned William S. Burroughs’ hallucinatory, satirical novel ''Naked Lunch'' (1959). Both works contained what were considered lewd descriptions of body parts and sexual, often homosexual, acts. Grove also published Hubert Selby Jr.’s anecdotal novel ''Last Exit to Brooklyn'' (1964), known for its gritty portrayals of criminals, prostitutes and transvestites and its crude, slang-inspired prose. ''Last Exit to Brooklyn'' was tried as obscene in the UK. These trials, all of which Grove Press won, paved the way for transgressional fiction to be published legally but also brought attention to these works, spreading their literary influence.
In the 1970s and 80s, an entire underground of transgressional fiction flourished. Its biggest stars included J.G. Ballard, a Briton known for his strange and frightening dystopian novels; Kathy Acker, an American known for her sexually blunt and still feministic fiction and Charles Bukowski, an American known for his tales of womanizing, drinking and loafing.
In the 1990s, the rise of alternative rock and its distinctly downbeat subculture opened the door for transgressional writers to become more influential and commercially successful than ever before. This is exemplified by the influence of Canadian Douglas Coupland’s 1990 novel '','' which explored the economically bleak and apocalypse-fixated worldview of Coupland's age group. The novel popularized the term generation X to describe this age demographic. Other influential authors of this decade include Bret Easton Ellis, known for novels about depraved yuppies; Irvine Welsh known for his portrayals of Scotland’s drug-addicted working class youth and Chuck Palahniuk, known for his characters' bizarre attempts to escape bland consumer culture. Both of Elizabeth Young's volumes of literary criticism from this period deal extensively and exclusively with this range of authors and the contexts in which their works can be viewed.
Interestingly, in the UK, the genre owes a considerable influence to “working class literature” which often portrays characters trying to escape poverty by inventive means while, in the US, the genre focuses more on middle class characters trying to escape the emotional and spiritual limitations of their lifestyle.

Authors of transgressional fiction

★ M. Ageyev

★ Steve Aylett

★ Kathy Acker

★ Jonathan Ames

★ Will Christopher Baer

★ James Robert Baker

★ J.G. Ballard

★ Iain Banks

★ Georges Bataille

★ Frédéric Beigbeder

★ Maurice Blanchot

★ Poppy Z. Brite

★ Jan Bucquoy

★ Charles Bukowski

★ Edward Bunker

★ William S. Burroughs

★ Céline

★ Noah Cicero

★ Dennis Cooper

★ Douglas Coupland

★ Craig Clevenger

★ Harry Crews

★ James Curcio

★ Samuel R. Delany

★ Bernd Dost

★ Bret Easton Ellis

★ Frederick Exley

★ Mary Gaitskill

★ James Gunn

★ Scott Heim

★ Amy Hempel

★ Stewart Home

★ A. M. Homes

★ Michel Houellebecq

★ Herbert Huncke

★ Gary Indiana

★ Travis Jeppesen

★ David LaBounty

★ JT LeRoy

★ Jason Madsen

★ Mattilda aka Matt Bernstein Sycamore

★ Carlton Mellick III

★ Henry Miller

★ Octave Mirbeau

★ Seth Morgan

★ Chuck Palahniuk

★ Joel Rose

★ C.W. Schultz

★ Hubert Selby Jr.

★ Carl Shuker

★ Kenji Siratori

★ Supervert

★ Alexander Trocchi

★ William T. Vollman

★ Dimitris Voyatzis, a Greek transgressive fiction filmmaker

★ David Foster Wallace

★ Irvine Welsh

Notable works of transgressional fiction

This is a short list of works of transgressional fiction that are of considerable popularity and/or influence:

★ ''American Psycho'' by Bret Easton Ellis

★ "Haunted" by Chuck Palahniuk

★ ''The Contortionist's Handbook'' by Craig Clevenger

★ ''Crash'' by J.G. Ballard

★ ''The Demon by Hubert Selby Jr.

★ ''The Dice Man'' by Luke Rhinehart

★ ''Fight Club'' by Chuck Palahniuk

★ '' by Douglas Coupland

★ ''Junkie'' by William S. Burroughs

★ ''Kiss Me, Judas'' by Will Christopher Baer

★ ''Last Exit to Brooklyn'' by Hubert Selby Jr.

★ ''Looking for Mr. Goodbar'' by Judith Rossner

★ ''Lunar Park'' by Bret Easton Ellis

★ ''Naked Lunch'' by William S. Burroughs

★ ''No Beast So Fierce'' by Edward Bunker

★ ''Requiem for a Dream'' by Hubert Selby Jr.

★ ''Satan Burger'' by Carlton Mellick III

★ ''Shampoo Planet'' by Douglas Coupland

★ ''Story of the Eye'' by Georges Bataille

★ ''The Toy Collector'' by James Gunn

★ ''Trainspotting'' by Irvine Welsh

★ ''Tropic of Cancer'' by Henry Miller

★ ''The Monkey Wrench Gang by Edward Abbey

★ ''Yeval by C.W. Schultz