WARNING:
Mature content please DO NOT read further if easily offended for personal or religious reasons.
In the history of novel writing, the 20th century has seen the revolution as fas as breaking the taboos is concerned. Novels containing taboo themes (openly challenging religious, political authorities and their systems, explicit adultery, incest, illicit sexual affairs), taboo words (fuck, cunt, shit plus so many other swear words and phrases… though it remains interesting how some words are gaining taboo status like nigger, fag, dyke.. READ Wikipedia article on Profanity), taboo subject matter (explicit, graphic and gratuitous violence, rape, killing, necrophilia) etc. were published. Here are some of the ground breaking novels and widely recognized as the ”firsts” and pioneers in their groundbreaking or taboo breaking. All titles contain links to their Amazon.com page where you can read other reviews or buy the book.
1.) Ulysses by James Joyce. First published in 1922 in Paris, banned in UK and USA. Contains irreverent or obscene scoffing of religion, explicit sexuality, fetishes, obscene language or expletives, scatological material and possibly coprophilia.
2.) Lady Chatterly’s Lover by D.H. Lawrence. Written and published privately in 1928 in Florence, Italy. Contains graphic and taboo, adulterous sexual affair shown in a sort of positive and gratuitous light, four letter expletives.
3.) Tropic of Cancer by Henry Miller. Published in Paris in 1934. Ground breaking in its frankness and directness of describing sexual affairs, sexual intercourse, genitalia etc. No novel had gone to such limits before in portraying graphic sex. Usually critic opinions range from ”trash” to ”one of the greatest novels” of 20th century.
4.) City and the Pillar by Gore Vidal. Published in 1948. Known as the first frank ”gay” novel that has a love affair between two young men as its plot. Gore Vidal often reminisces how even The New York Times had refused to review the novel because it was considered immoral or objectionable bythe ”liberal” newspaper at that time.
After and between the publication of these novels, so many writers and novels touched upon taboo subjects. Too many to name or remember probably. I would mention just one that stood out in 1990s and could be considered precursor of the sorts the modern shock novelists are writing today.
5.) American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis. Published in 1991. This novel packed– I suppose, with the apparent intention to shock and sell– graphic violence, rape, sexual violence against women, gratuitous killing, Sadism, necrophilia and even cannibalism.
But here is one question: What you think remains taboo today?? My personal reading of American Psycho was that, after a while you get bored with this genre. Maybe that’s the reason these are not categorized as classics. Now these novels are quite generic though they do sell well at times.
Here is second question: Please mention books and writers that I omitted and you think they must be there in the list. Also, give me reasons why they’re taboo breakers? You can nominate your taboo books from any language, country or culture as long as you give me good references to the work.
I believe that the most tabboo subject would be to detail instructions on HOW TO commit the worst sort of horrors previously mentioned upon a fellow human being in such a way that could not be prevented by even the most astute law authority, including scripts detailing suggested methods of psychological torture and behavior manipulation that could be performed as a sort of invisible “gaslight” publicly, and prior to, the kidnapping and supreme torture of the victim. Particularly gruesome: Forcing a mother to witness the torturer slowly “turning” her child into a willing torturer of his own mother, i.e. of herself. I leave it to you to add details, I do not like that sort of thing myself, having suffered mentally, on and off, over long years. I like flowers.
wow. that is an interesting idea. I think I’ll write about it.
Nabokov’s Lolita, of course, for tackling pedophilia, and in a ‘positive’ light.
and Roth’s Portnoy’s Complaint, for tackling masturbation.
I just realized that I did not respond to these comments!
Dan- Thanks for mentioning some of the possibilities. Yeah, probably, graphic details of torturing prisoners or some of the things in Holocaust would be censored, not because it would be too shocking but because it would be considered puerile and intrusion into the victims’ privacy and dignity.
Seth- I take it that you’re still thinking about it?
X- Seth you mention two interesting works. I find it very interesting how much Lolita was accepted and praised by mainstream critics and readers though it DOES portray pedophilia in a positive light. I read one review from http://www.brothersjudd.com (right wing, Christian neocon website of book reviews) The reviewer has given Lolita very good rating. Maybe because it has HETEROSEXUAL tones that must be pleasing to his conservative Christian mind? LOL
Second, Portnoy’s Complaint is MARVELOUS. I loved this novel. It is very funny. It very much has the tone of Henry Miller but of course no one has gone into masturbation like that before. But indeed that novel has so much more to it than masturbation: overbearing parents, neurotic women and of course neurotic and suffering Portnoy.