Editing Transgressive fiction

{{Short description|Genre of literature}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2021}}

'''Transgressive fiction''' is a [[Literary genre|genre of literature]] which focuses on characters who feel confined by the [[social norm|norms]] and expectations of society and who break free of those confines in unusual or illicit ways.<ref name="atlmonth"/>

==Literary context==
Because they are rebelling against the basic norms of society, [[protagonist]]s of transgressive fiction may seem [[mental illness|mentally ill]], [[psychopathy|anti-social]], or [[nihilism|nihilist]]ic. The genre deals extensively with taboo subject matters such as drugs, [[Human sexual activity|sexual activity]], violence, [[incest]], [[pedophilia]], and crime. The genre of "transgressive fiction" was defined by ''[[Los Angeles Times]]'' literary critic [[Michael Silverblatt]].<ref name="atlmonth">[https://www.theatlantic.com/issues/96dec/wrdwatch/wrdwatch.htm Word Watch &mdash; December 1996] from ''[[The Atlantic Monthly]]''</ref>

[[Michel Foucault]]'s essay "A Preface to Transgression" (1963) provides an important methodological origin for the concept of transgression in literature. The essay uses ''[[Story of the Eye]]'' by [[Georges Bataille]] as an example of transgressive fiction.<ref name="foucault">[[Michel Foucault|Foucault, Michel]] (1963). "A Preface to Transgression." {{cite web |url=http://www.humanities.uci.edu/cte/events/foucault-a-preface-to-transgression_11-2.pdf |title=Archived copy |accessdate=10 May 2015 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20140819050732/http://www.humanities.uci.edu/cte/events/foucault-a-preface-to-transgression_11-2.pdf |archivedate=19 August 2014 }}</ref>

Rene Chun, a journalist for ''[[The New York Times]]'', described transgressive fiction:<!-- the excerpt from Word Watch is a quote from the NY Times, not the words of the Atlantic Monthly journalist -->
{{Cquote|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.<ref name="nytimes">The New York Times &mdash; April 23, 1995, pp. 49, 52</ref>}}

The genre has been the subject of controversy, and many forerunners of transgressive fiction, including [[William S. Burroughs]] and [[Hubert Selby Jr.]], have been the subjects of [[obscenity]] trials.<ref>{{cite news |last=Judson |first=George |date=10 August 1997 |title=Naked Lunches and Reality Sandwiches: How the Beats Beat the First Amendment |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1997/08/10/weekinreview/naked-lunches-and-reality-sandwiches-how-the-beats-beat-the-first-amendment.html |work=[[The New York Times]] |access-date=30 April 2020}}</ref>

Transgressive fiction shares similarities with [[splatterpunk]], [[hard-boiled|noir]], and [[erotica|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&mdash;albeit unusual and extreme ones. Much transgressive fiction deals with searches for [[self-identity]], [[inner peace]], or [[personal freedom]]. Unbound by usual restrictions of taste and literary convention, its proponents claim that transgressive fiction is capable of incisive social commentary.<ref>{{cite news |last=Silverblatt |first=Michael |authorlink=Michael Silverblatt |date=1 August 1993 |title=SHOCK APPEAL / Who Are These Writers, and Why Do They Want to Hurt Us? : The New Fiction of Transgression |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1993-08-01-bk-21466-story.html |work=[[Los Angeles Times]] |access-date=21 April 2020}}</ref>

==History==
The basic ideas of transgressive fiction are by no means new. Many works that are now considered [[western canon|classic]]s dealt with controversial themes and harshly criticized societal norms. Early examples include the scandalous writing of the [[Marquis de Sade]] and the [[Comte de Lautréamont]]'s ''[[Les Chants de Maldoror]]'' (1869).<ref>{{cite web |last=Wolff |first=Ian |url=https://alibi.com/art/48313/Cruel-Songs.html |title=Cruel Songs |date=January 2015 |work=[[Weekly Alibi]] |access-date=June 3, 2022}}</ref> French author [[Émile Zola]]'s works about social conditions and "bad behavior" are examples,<ref>{{cite web |last=Nelson |first=Brian |url=https://blog.oup.com/2013/09/emile-zola-integrity-representation/ |title=Émile Zola and the integrity of representation |date=September 29, 2013 |work=[[Oxford University Press|OUP]]blog |access-date=June 3, 2022}}</ref> as are Russian [[Fyodor Dostoyevsky]]'s novels ''[[Crime and Punishment]]'' (1866)<ref>{{cite news |last=Thomson |first=Ian |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2021/nov/15/the-sinner-and-the-saint-review-the-story-behind-dostoevskys-and-punishment |title=The Sinner and the Saint review – the story behind Dostoevsky's Crime and Punishment |date=November 15, 2021 |work=[[The Guardian]] |access-date=May 28, 2022}}</ref> and ''[[Notes from Underground]]'' (1864)<ref>{{cite web |url=http://dostoevsky-bts.com/blog/transgressive-spiteful-side-notes-underground/ |title=The Transgressive Spiteful Side of "Notes from the Underground" |last=Caro |first=Tony |date=18 July 2018 |website=Dostoyevsky Reimagined |access-date=21 April 2020}}</ref> and Norwegian [[Knut Hamsun]]'s psychologically-driven ''[[Hunger (Hamsun novel)|Hunger]]'' (1890).<ref>{{cite web |last=Gioia |first=Ted |url=http://fractiousfiction.com/hunger.html |title=Knut Hamsun's Hunger |date=February 29, 2016 |work=fractious fiction |access-date=May 28, 2022}}</ref> Sexual extravagance can be seen in two of the earliest European novels, the ''[[Satyricon]]'' and ''[[The Golden Ass]]'', and also (with disclaimers) ''[[Moll Flanders]]'' and some of the excesses of early [[Gothic fiction]].<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |title=Gothic Literature |encyclopedia=[[Encyclopedia.com]] |url=https://www.encyclopedia.com/arts/educational-magazines/gothic-literature |access-date=May 11, 2022}}</ref>

A simpler, more literal example of transgressive fiction is [[Kate Chopin]]'s ''[[The Awakening (Chopin novel)|The Awakening]]'', in which a married woman, feeling confined by the gender constructs of her society and pressures imposed upon her by her family and friends to be keen in her duties as a mother and wife, leaves her family and pursues extramarital relationships.<ref name="Chopin">{{cite news |last=Vaye Watkins |first=Claire |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/05/books/review/kate-chopin-the-awakening.html |title=The Classic Novel That Saw Pleasure as a Path to Freedom |date=February 5, 2020 |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |access-date=December 23, 2023}}</ref> Commenting on gender roles of the late 19th century, ''The Awakening'' faced major criticism for its depiction of a woman being unfaithful to her family, despite the fact that Chopin had written several similar short stories prior to ''Awakening'''s publication. It is now considered to be a landmark of early [[feminist literature]].<ref name="Chopin" />

The early development of the genre was anticipated in the work of early 20th century writers such as [[Octave Mirbeau]], [[Georges Bataille]], and [[Arthur Schnitzler]], who explored [[psychosexual development]].<ref>{{cite web |last=Orthofer |first=M.A. |url=https://www.complete-review.com/reviews/mirbeauo/jardin_des_supplices.htm |title=Torture Garden by Octave Mirbeau |date=19 March 2015 |website=[[Complete Review]] |access-date=June 3, 2022}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last=Brooks |first=Peter |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1978/02/12/archives/shocker-in-28.html |title=Shocker in '28 |date=12 February 1978 |work=[[The New York Times]] |access-date=June 3, 2022}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/books/99/07/11/bookend/bookend.html |title=Sex and Longing in Old Vienna |last=Gay |first=Peter |date=11 July 1999 |website=[[The New York Times]] |access-date=3 June 2022}}</ref>

On 6 December 1933, US federal judge John M. Woolsey overturned the federal ban on [[James Joyce]]'s ''[[Ulysses (novel)|Ulysses]]''.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://jamesjoyce.ie/on-this-day-6-december/ |title=On this day…6 December |date=December 6, 2013 |work=[[James Joyce Centre]] |access-date=May 28, 2022}}</ref> The book was banned in the US due to what the government claimed was obscenity, specifically parts of Molly Bloom's "soliloquy" at the end of the book.<ref>{{cite news |last=Corrigan |first=Maureen |url=https://www.npr.org/2014/06/26/324715348/most-dangerous-book-a-rich-treasury-charting-james-joyces-ulysses |title='Most Dangerous Book': A Rich Treasury Charting James Joyce's 'Ulysses' |date=June 26, 2014 |work=[[NPR]] |access-date=June 3, 2022}}</ref> [[Random House Inc.]] challenged the claim of obscenity in federal court and was granted permission to print the book in the US. Judge Woolsey's explanation for his removal of the ban is often quoted: "It is only with the normal person that the law is concerned."<ref>{{cite news |last1=McGrath |first1=Charles |last2=Galchen |first2=Rivka |date=9 June 2015 |title=How Would 'Ulysses' Be Received Today? |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/14/books/review/how-would-ulysses-be-received-today.html |work=[[The New York Times]] |access-date=22 April 2020}}</ref>

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 (novel)|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]]).<ref>{{cite magazine |last=Menand|first=Louis |date=4 December 2016 |title=Banned Books and Blockbusters |url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2016/12/12/people-of-the-book-2 |magazine=[[The New Yorker]] |access-date=3 June 2022}}</ref> Both books were ruled not obscene and forced the US courts to weigh the [[literary merit|merit of literature]] that would have once been instantly deemed pornographic (see [[Miller test]]).<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.nypl.org/blog/2013/09/25/banned-books-week-tropic-cancer |title=Banned Books Week: Tropic of Cancer by Henry Miller |last=Machlin |first=Sherri |date=25 September 2013 |website=[[New York Public Library]] |access-date=23 April 2020}}</ref> Similarly, the author [[Vladimir Nabokov]] published ''[[Lolita]]'' in 1955 to a great deal of controversy due to the [[hebephilia]] that occurs between the book's main characters, Humbert Humbert and Lolita. The transgressive nature of this subject has made ''Lolita'' a book often found on the [[list of books banned by governments]]<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.ala.org/advocacy/bbooks/frequentlychallengedbooks/classics |title=Banned & Challenged Classics |work=[[American Library Association]] |date=26 March 2013 |access-date=May 28, 2022}}</ref> and the [[list of most commonly challenged books in the United States]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.politics-prose.com/book-notes/banned-book-lolita |title=Banned Book: Lolita |work=[[Politics and Prose]] |access-date=May 28, 2022}}</ref>

Grove Press also published the explicit works of [[Beat generation|Beat]] writers, which led to two more obscenity trials.<ref>{{cite web |last=Glass |first=Loren |url=https://lareviewofbooks.org/article/counter-culture-colophon-part-ii-grove-press-in-the-1960s/ |title=Counter-Culture Colophon Part II: Grove Press in the 1960s |date=September 30, 2011 |work=[[Los Angeles Review of Books]] |access-date=May 28, 2022}}</ref> The first concerned ''[[Howl (poem)|Howl]]'', [[Allen Ginsberg]]'s 1955 poem which celebrated American [[counterculture]] and decried hypocrisy and emptiness in mainstream society.<ref>{{cite magazine |last=Goodin |first=Brittany |url=https://the-artifice.com/ginsberg-howl/ |title=Ginsberg's "Howl" and the Birth of a New Generation of Literature |date=June 26, 2014 |magazine=[[The Artifice (magazine)|The Artifice]] |access-date=May 28, 2022}}</ref> The second concerned [[William S. Burroughs]]' hallucinatory, [[satire|satirical]] novel ''[[Naked Lunch]]'' (1959).<ref>{{cite news |last=Miles |first=Barry |date=5 September 1993 |title=Inside the Outsider |url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1993-09-05-9309050172-story.html |work=[[Chicago Tribune]] |access-date=21 April 2020}}</ref> Both works contained what were considered lewd descriptions of body parts and sexual <!--what's "idesexual"? (often [[wikt:idesexual|idesexual]])--> acts. Grove also published [[Hubert Selby Jr.]]'s anecdotal novel ''[[Last Exit to Brooklyn]]'' (1964), known for its gritty portrayals of criminals, and sex workers and its crude, slang-inspired prose.<ref>{{cite news |last=Hamilton |first=Denise |date=March 11, 1988 |title=From the Shadows, a Legend Reappears : Mainstream Recognition Catches Up With 'Last Exit to Brooklyn' Author Selby Once Again |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1988-03-11-vw-1247-story.html |work=[[Los Angeles Times]] |access-date=June 3, 2022}}</ref> ''Last Exit to Brooklyn'' was tried as obscene in the UK.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.beatdom.com/hubert-selby-jrs-american-dream/ |title=Hubert Selby Jr's American Dream |last=Leone |first=Ryan |date=26 October 2014 |website=Beatdom |access-date=21 April 2020}}</ref> Grove Press won all these trials, and the victories paved the way both for transgressive fiction to be published legally, as well as bringing attention to these works.<ref>{{cite news |last=Chun |first=Rene |date=23 April 1995 |title=Naked Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1995/04/23/archives/naked-breakfast-lunch-and-dinner.html |work=[[The New York Times]] |access-date=25 April 2020}}</ref>

In the 1970s and '80s, an entire underground of transgressive fiction flourished. Its biggest stars included [[J. G. Ballard]], a British writer known for his strange and frightening [[dystopia]]n novels;<ref>{{cite news |last=L. Ulin |first=David |date=16 September 2014 |title=Visionary with a sharp edge |url=https://www.latimes.com/books/la-et-jg-ballard20-story.html |work=[[Los Angeles Times]] |access-date=30 April 2020}}</ref> [[Kathy Acker]], an American known for her [[sex-positive feminism|sex-positive feminist]] fiction;<ref>{{cite web |last=Thornton |first=Jonathan |date=December 13, 2021 |title=Pirates, Punks, and Quests: The Transgressive, Transformative Slipstream Novels of Kathy Acker |url=https://www.tor.com/2021/12/13/pirates-punks-and-quests-the-transgressive-transformative-slipstream-novels-of-kathy-acker/ |work=[[Tor.com]] |access-date=May 11, 2022}}</ref> and [[Charles Bukowski]], an American known for his tales of womanizing, drinking, and gambling.<ref>{{cite magazine |last=Kirsch |first=Adam |date=6 March 2005 |title=The Transgressive Thrills of Charles Bukowski |url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2005/03/14/smashed |magazine=[[The New Yorker]] |access-date=30 April 2020}}</ref> The notorious [[A Clockwork Orange (film)|1971 film version]] of [[Anthony Burgess]]'s ''[[A Clockwork Orange (novel)|A Clockwork Orange]]'', contained scenes of rape and "ultraviolence" by a futuristic youth gang complete with its own [[Nadsat|argot]], and was [[List of cultural references to A Clockwork Orange|a major influence on popular culture]]; it was subsequently withdrawn in the UK, and heavily censored in the US.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://conceptualfiction.com/whenscifigrewup.html |title=When Science Fiction Grew Up |last=Gioia |first=Ted |date=29 September 2014 |website=conceptual fiction |access-date=21 April 2020}}</ref>

In the 1990s, the rise of [[alternative rock]] and its distinctly downbeat subculture opened the door for transgressive writers to become more influential and commercially successful than ever before.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Grimshaw |first1=Mike |date=September 25, 2002 |title=Cultural Pessimism and Rock Criticism Bret Easton Ellis' Writing (as) Hell |url=https://journals.uvic.ca/index.php/ctheory/article/view/14575/5422 |journal=[[CTheory]] |access-date=May 28, 2022}}</ref> This is exemplified by the influence of Canadian [[Douglas Coupland]]'s 1990 novel ''[[Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated Culture]]'', 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.<ref>{{cite news |last=Abcarian |first=Robin |date=12 June 1991 |title=Boomer Backlash : * Generations: What's it really like to be twentysomething? Douglas Coupland's new novel is a biting portrait of life after yuppiedom. |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-06-12-vw-423-story.html |work=[[Los Angeles Times]] |access-date=30 April 2020}}</ref> Other influential authors of this decade include [[Bret Easton Ellis]], known for novels about depraved [[yuppie]]s;<ref>{{cite news |last=Garner |first=Dwight |date=24 March 2016 |title=In Hindsight, an 'American Psycho' Looks a Lot Like Us |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/27/theater/in-hindsight-an-american-psycho-looks-a-lot-like-us.html |work=[[The New York Times]] |access-date=26 April 2020}}</ref> [[Irvine Welsh]], known for his portrayals of [[Scotland]]'s drug-addicted working class youth;<ref>{{cite news |last=Macfarlane |first=Robert |date=20 August 2006 |title=Pain Spotting |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/20/books/review/20welsh.html |work=[[The New York Times]] |access-date=26 April 2020}}</ref> and [[Chuck Palahniuk]], known for his characters' bizarre attempts to escape bland [[consumerism|consumer culture]].<ref>{{cite magazine |last=Curtis |first=Bryan |date=22 June 2005 |title=Chuck Palahniuk's leap of faith |url=https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2005/06/chuck-palahniuk-s-leap-of-faith.html |magazine=[[Slate (magazine)|Slate]] |access-date=25 April 2020}}</ref> Both of [[Elizabeth Young (journalist)|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.<ref>{{cite news |last=Williams |first=John |url=https://www.theguardian.com/news/2001/mar/23/guardianobituaries.books |title=Elizabeth Young |date=March 23, 2001 |work=[[The Guardian]] |access-date=May 28, 2022}}</ref>

The early 21st century saw the rise of writers like [[Rupert Thomson]], [[R. D. Ronald]] and Kelly Braffet with their protagonists further pushing the criminal, sexual, violent, narcotic, self-harm, anti-social and mental illness related subject matter taboos from the shadows of the transgressive umbrella into the forefront of mainstream fiction.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://maudnewton.com/blog/interview-with-rupert-thomson/ |title=Interview with Rupert Thomson |last=Newton |first=Maud |date=22 May 2006 |website=Maud Newton |access-date=22 April 2020}}</ref> Ronald's novels ''The Elephant Tree'' and ''The Zombie Room'' are based in the fictional city of Garden Heights, providing a fresh, contemporary melting pot to showcase the amalgamation of UK and US cultural and societal dissatisfaction and frustration, that had previously been portrayed very differently.<ref>{{cite web |last=Levin |first=Greg |title=Interview with R.D. Ronald, Transgressive Novelist for All and None |url=http://greglevin.com/scrawl-space-blog/interview-with-rd-ronald |date=April 18, 2018 |work=Greg Levin |access-date=May 28, 2022}}</ref>

In the UK, the genre owes a considerable influence to "working class literature",<ref>{{cite news |last=Romero |first=Dennis |title=Adding a Little Grit to Modern Novels |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1996-06-26-ls-18521-story.html |date=June 26, 1996 |work=[[Los Angeles Times]] |access-date=May 28, 2022}}</ref> 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.<ref>{{cite news |last=Spencer |first=Scott |title=Love Me, Love My Porsche |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1987/09/13/books/love-me-love-my-porsche.html |date=September 13, 1987 |work=[[The New York Times]] |access-date=May 28, 2022}}</ref>

==Notable works==
'''[[Henry Miller]]'''
*''[[Tropic of Cancer (novel)|Tropic of Cancer]]'' (1934)
*''[[Tropic of Capricorn (novel)|Tropic of Capricorn]]'' (1939)
*''[[Sexus (The Rosy Crucifixion)|The Rosy Crucifixion]]'' (1949–59)

'''[[William S. Burroughs]]'''
*''[[Junkie (novel)|Junkie]]'' (1953)
*''[[Naked Lunch]]'' (1959)

'''[[Georges Bataille]]'''
*''[[Story of the Eye]]'' (1928)

'''[[Vladimir Nabokov]]'''
*''[[Lolita]]'' (1955)
*''[[Ada or Ardor]]'' (1969)

'''[[Hubert Selby Jr.]]'''
*''[[Last Exit to Brooklyn]]'' (1964)
*''[[Requiem for a Dream (novel)|Requiem for a Dream]]'' (1978)

'''[[J. G. Ballard]]'''
*''[[The Atrocity Exhibition]]'' (1970)
*''[[Crash (Ballard novel)|Crash]]'' (1973)

'''[[Ryū Murakami|Ryu Murakami]]'''
*''[[Almost Transparent Blue]]'' (1976)

'''[[Katherine Dunn]]'''
* ''[[Geek Love]]'' (1989)
'''[[Kathy Acker]]'''
*''[[Blood and Guts in High School]]'' (1984)

'''[[Bret Easton Ellis]]'''
*''[[Less than Zero (novel)|Less than Zero]]'' (1985)
*''[[American Psycho]]'' (1991)

'''[[Dennis Cooper]]'''
*''[[Frisk (novel)|Frisk]]'' (1991)

'''[[Irvine Welsh]]'''
*''[[Trainspotting (novel)|Trainspotting]]'' (1993)
*''[[Filth (novel)|Filth]]'' (1998)

'''[[Matthew Stokoe]]'''
*''Cows'' (1998) 

'''[[Chuck Palahniuk]]'''
*''[[Fight Club (novel)|Fight Club]]'' (1996)
*''[[Invisible Monsters]]'' (1999)
*''[[Haunted (Palahniuk novel)|Haunted]]'' (2005)

'''[[Alissa Nutting]]'''
*''[[Tampa (novel)|Tampa]]'' (2013)

'''[[Blake Butler (author)|Blake Butler]]'''
*''[[300,000,000]]'' (2014)

'''[[Elle Nash]]'''
* ''[[Animals Eat Each Other]]'' (2018)
*''[[Nudes (2021)|Nudes]]'' (2021)
*''[[Gag Reflex (novel)|Gag Reflex]]'' (2022)

'''[[Chris Kelso]]'''
*''[[The DREGS Trilogy]]'' (2020)

'''[[Nikanor Teratologen]]'''
*''Assisted Living'' (1993)

'''Jason Tanamor'''
*''Anonymous'' (2013)
'''[[Virginie Despentes]]'''

* ''Baise-moi (1993)''
'''[[Charles Bukowski]]'''

* ''[[Factotum (novel)|Factotum]] (1975)''
* ''[[The Most Beautiful Woman in Town|The Most Beautiful Woman in Town & Other Stories]] (1983)''

==See also==
* [[Horror fiction]]
* [[Transgressive art]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

==Bibliography==

* {{cite book |last=Mookerjee |first=Robin |date=2013 |title=Transgressive Fiction: The New Satiric Tradition |location=New York |publisher=[[Palgrave Macmillan]] |page=255 |isbn=978-1-349-33318-9}}
* {{cite book |last=Nicol |first=Bran |date=2009 |title=The Cambridge Introduction to Postmodern Fiction |location=New York |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |page=220 |isbn=978-0-521-86157-1}}
* {{cite book |last1=McHale |first1=Brian |last2=Platt |first2=Len |date=2016 |title=The Cambridge History of Postmodern Literature |location=New York |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |page=552 |isbn=978-1107140271}}
* {{cite book |last=Slocombe |first=William |date=2006 |title=Nihilism and the Sublime Postmodern: The (Hi)Story of a Difficult Relationship from Romanticism to Postmodernism |location=New York |publisher=[[Routledge]] |page=224 |isbn=0-415-97529-8}}

==External links==
* [https://transgressivefiction.info/ TRANSGRESSIVE FICTION.info]

[[Category:Literary genres]]
[[Category:Obscenity controversies in literature]]