Gutierrez 1 Max A.

Gutierrez November 8, 2012 English 111-8 Definition Paper Transgressive Fiction or, The Taboo Transgressive Fiction is a form of contemporary literature in which details the darker side of the world, that most people are afraid of noticing. Transgressive derives from Transgression in which means [A] violation of accepted or imposed boundaries, [especially] those of social acceptability. Basically it steps out of the norms of our society. Most of these novels depict what most authors label as Nihilism. Nihilism is [t]he rejection of religious and moral principles, often in belief that life is meaningless. And another definition says [e]xtreme skepticism, according to which nothing in the world has a real existence. Chuck Palahniuks novel Survivor is the perfect example of what nihilism exactly is. The main protagonist is the last one remaining from his cult, in which consisted of individuals who killed themselves after their lifetime deemed to end, and becomes a sort of celebrity due to this history. He soon realizes how disgusting their exploitations are and begins to hate society and realize how meaningless it all really is. In the end he kills himself in which is a typical ending for most of these novels since of course they thriving off of the life is meaningless theme. Nihilism is not intended to carry a truly negative connotation but merely create a satire and more awakening light on our very society. Such as in Survivor, the message is that our sick

Gutierrez 2 world of the famous is the cause of the corruption of many innocents. While Nihilism may be a very obscure and morbid look at displaying such a meaningful message, it is a giant kick in the ass to get people to really see what were all missing. Transgressive fiction is a genre thats more modern but did exist in the old classic literature. It was typically seen in Russian novels and were often highly controversial for their time and even ours. Fyodor Dostoyevsy was most known for writing novels with characters who exhibited great nihilism and even absurd aspirations. The novel Crime and Punishment is among one of his greatest works and has one of the most haunting characters of its generation. Raskolnikov has a desire to kill his pawnbroker as an experiment of compensating his bad actions with more good actions. The basis of the novel is basically the battles of ones morality and testing the borders of our society. Another novel which grabbed a lot of attention is Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov. It is about a professor who finds attraction in a 12-year-old and begins having affairs with her. It was deemed as pornography and is highly rejected by the public. The theme is said to be by author Robertson Davies [Lolita is] not the corruption of an innocent child by a cunning adult, but the exploitation of a weak adult by a corrupted child. This his way of finding a justifiable meaning in the work and thats typically the test that transgressive fiction sets; is this justifiable? Classic literature that followed a transgressive approach often didnt follow the theme that life is meaningless. It often showed meaning in the most obscure ways to the characters in which was just a play on their morals. Sex, drugs, and violence are three of the main counterparts in transgressive literature and is most often why this type of fiction is rejected by a good amount of society. Most often Transgressive literature is classified as pornography or erotic fiction. A common component is

Gutierrez 3 often rape or incest. Of course when sexual themes spinning around this extreme a level it can come out as pretty heavy matter. The novel A Clockwork Orange was often disregarded and banned for its explicit Ultra violence and rape scenes. The novel for the most part centered around a group of rebellious teenagers who went out and caused anarchy upon future London. Most often it would end in what they called the ol in-out in-out in which was raping a prostitute or innocent person in their own home. Of course this sort of thing is one of many fascinations upon general readers but the writer never intended on being erotic or such. It was just intended to be dark and be haunting enough to alarm the reader of this dark side of the moon. The novel Fight Club was also picked on due to its graphic nature and often shaded away its ulterior motive. Fight Club wasnt just a novel about men fighting, but merely fighting against conforming with society. Of course the way they establish such a point is harsh and blunt but thats the purpose in writing this sort of fiction. It needs to be grim and rash in order to get our attention almost like a punch straight to the stomach. Critical reception of Transgressive is commonly negative towards it even being published. It is most often seen as blasphemy in literature. The novel A Clockwork Orange was banned from the United States for decades and when brought back, had the final chapter removed. The final chapter was extremely essential and rocked how the protagonist Alex would be left in this world he was in. Without the chapter he was back to square one where it was a possibility that he could return to his old violent self. The true final chapter revealed that Alex really did have his redemption and may be able to refrain from being a threat to society. US publishers didnt believe that this ending was practical given its prior events. This was the American way of throwing down the transgressive ideals and making it look like sheer hopeless

Gutierrez 4 pornography. It appears that most books banned are in America and are most often the transgressive types. The list is quite expansive and includes works such as Lolita, Requiem for a Dream, American Psycho, etc. The novel American Psycho was actually plastic wrapped in multiple book stores and had a warning label advising its strong violence and sexual content. The reason for Americas strict censorship could be that it is perhaps the most sensitive country or perhaps just afraid that we cant quite handle the matter of these stories. Some individuals truly cant handle the message behind transgressive fiction and have committed acts of brutality due to receiving the wrong message from their read. There was an individual who went out and killed several people and was said to have been inspired by reading American Pyscho. The novel does deal with snapping and having urges to kill in order to satisfy desires and be noticed. Not many see that the writer is trying to tell his audience that these are possibilities and its not right, but its probable. They never once inspire someone to take a chainsaw and desecrate their neighbor. Another novel by the same author Bret Easton Ellis called Imperial Bedrooms is also an extreme read and was rejected by a good sum of critics. It deals with the underworld of Hollywood and its most darkest areas. The main character abuses a girl due to his lust for her and her constant betrayal. He also carries a dark past where he committed explicit acts to two children and gets away from it all with a clean slate. This form of Transgressive Fiction that Ellis writes doesnt deal with a hopeless character who hates society, but merely deals with a character whom is able to get away with such an attitude in our society. They are prolific looks on the people that we live with and continue to live with. When a person reads this sort of novel they just match their negative parts with the character and just treat it as a

Gutierrez 5 sort of a bible. This is tragic but is also necessary because it proves the books point, these people exist. My favorite piece of transgressive fiction is Invisible Monsters by Chuck Palahniuck and it deals with the taboo themes of transgender, plastic surgery, and even homosexuality. I must admit that even I at first felt a bit uncomfortable reading this book but the characters felt real and unsaturated. This wasnt my first transgressive novel, I had read Crime and Punishment and A Clockwork Orange prior. It was just three big themes in which were big in my day and age and most often caused some question in my head. The ending truly created a shift in belief in my head and made me feel much more comfortable with transgender and homosexual issues. The ending basically established that we should mold ourselves to however we like to whatever our ideal of beauty may be. This was all one big point in which combines the three themes into one ultimate purpose. This novel not only gave me a general theme but helped me understand and acknowledge topics that was gray in. Transgressive fiction introduces us to the world, the Narnia that were afraid to enter. They arent good or bad, ugly or beautiful. Theyre just the way I look. The truth. My future. Just regular reality. Brandy Alexander narrates in Invisible Monsters. That taboo were afraid to cross isnt good or bad, ugly or beautiful, its just regular reality. Grip the impulse to open up a transgressive novel accept the world that we live in.

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Works Cited Transgression-Dictionary Definition. Vocabulary.com. Web. Nihilism-Dictionary Definition. Vocabulary.com. Web. Palahniuk, Chuck. Survivor. Feb. 17, 1999. Book. Palahniuk, Chuck. Invisible Monsters. 1999. Book. Burgess, Anthony. A Clockwork Orange. 1962. Book. McGrath, Charles. 50 Years on Lolita Still Has Power to Unerve. New York Times. NYtimes.com. Sep. 24, 2005. Web.