Transgressive fiction - Chuck Palahniuk, Brett Easton Ellis, Irvine Welsh, etc

[MarionNYC]

Just to keep the subject going, I'm going to say something possibly controversial for this thread:  American Psycho -- has a great concept, a serial killer amongst us and he goes around TELLING people but no one listens or they literally can't hear him.  But it's not a great read.  The writing itself just isn't that great.   I think of Bret Easton Ellis as someone who got very lucky, very young with Less Than Zero -- also more concept that content.
 

[sal79paradise]

hmm... I loved American Psycho, but I can see where you're coming from. His last book-I forget the name-was underwhelming.

I would add Jack Ketchum to this list, along with Ryu Murakami.

[MarionNYC]

Just wanted to revive this thread by adding a suggestion, and it's only $1 on Kindle!  Sweet.  The book is  One Hundred Dollar Misunderstanding by Robert Gover http://www.amazon.com/one-hundred-dollar-misunderstanding-ebook/dp/B003XRELUW/ .  

This is without debt transgressive.  It's also offensive and very politically incorrect.  You have to take it as satire which was the author's intent, otherwise it's a racist peace of trash that promotes child-trafficking.  I haven't read it in years, and if I were reading it for the first time today, I might not be able to defend it.  But the first time I read it I was 18, and it had been recommended by my creative writing teacher, Mr. Price.  Who was not long for teaching with Hollywood calling. Whatever happened to that guy?  And it had, I believe, been recommended to him by his teacher, a Mr. Selby.

If I'm honest with myself the contrasting multiple points of view, the technique of it, was of course a big influence on that novel I wrote which has been mentioned on this thread.  Beyond that what reading Gover taught me is that unreliable narrators are unreliable to US, to themselves they are just telling the truth as they know it.

[Steve Silkin]

I think of Bret Easton Ellis as someone who got very lucky, very young with Less Than Zero -- also more concept that content.
 

I think Less Than Zero is a beautiful book.

... along with Ryu Murakami.

I liked Almost Transparent Blue. Coin Locker Babies is on my to-read list.

[Nulke]

The author Harry Crews writes what many would consider transgressive fiction; his earlier books being considered his better works. He's very much in the vein of Donald Ray Pollock of "Knockemstiff" and "The Devil All Time".

http://www.amazon.com/Feast-Snakes-Novel-Harry-Crews/dp/0684842483/ref=sr_1_cc_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1322233610&sr=1-1-catcorr

[markarayner]

Anything by Tom Bradley, or one of his publishers, Enigmatic Ink. (http://enigmaticink.weebly.com/)

I think my own work would qualify too; both of my novels are teeming with anti-social characters.

[JRTomlin]

Thanks everyone. I've checked out every one of your recommendations. I don't think I can bring myself to read Geek Love based on the Amazon description, but have added Apples, Before I Die and Last Exit To Brooklyn to my 'to read' list. Several others sound interested too. I just stared reading Loisaida from earlier in this thread.

Geek Love is one heck of a tough read as far as comfort level. Excellent writing though. I consider it one of the better novels in the sub-genre.

[SidneyW]

I had not encountered that term. Interesting.

[Adam Pepper]

 Just thought of another one (not an indie): Great Apes by Will Self. 

I've been meaning to read Self for years (every time I'd grab a Selby book and see him shelfed right next to him) but havent done it.  I need to rectify that at once!  Thanks for the suggestion.

[tituspowell]

Just to keep the subject going, I'm going to say something possibly controversial for this thread:  American Psycho -- has a great concept, a serial killer amongst us and he goes around TELLING people but no one listens or they literally can't hear him.  But it's not a great read.  The writing itself just isn't that great.   I think of Bret Easton Ellis as someone who got very lucky, very young with Less Than Zero -- also more concept that content.
 

Pardon the delayed response! The first time I read American Psycho, I thought it was a great example of how not to write a novel. But it grew on me over time and after a second reading I like it a lot better. I now like the fact that much of the book is an endless observation of brand names and male grooming products, with only brief episodes of psychosis - it reflects what's important in the character's mind. But I can totally understand how that could annoy people. I admit to skimming passages, which it could be argued one shouldn't do if a book is good!

Lunar Park I read recently and didn't like at all.

Anyone who's read both Less Than Zero and American Psycho... How do they compare?

Titus

[soofy]

Would Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy fit the bill? Considering the incessant and mind numbing depravity and violence done pretty much for the sake of it by the Glanton Gang and Judge Holden, I would say there is more than a few social transgressions in that novel.

[dgaughran]

I know you mentioned Irvine Welsh at the top but "Maribou Stork Nightmares" is one of his least read, but, to me, the most powerful. For a large part of the book, you aren't sure where things are going. Then comes the ending. The most sickening ending. Brilliant. Disturbed, but brilliant.

It takes a lot to shock me, but that book did it. Oh, the ending.

[tituspowell]

Thanks for the recommendations. I'll put both 'Maribou Stork Nightmares' and 'Blood Meridian' on the To Read list then.

[dgaughran]

A warning: Maribou Stork Nightmares will test your patience at times. But persevere. It's worth it.

It's not hard work to read, you just may wonder where it's all going, and then...

[Steve Silkin]

Anyone who's read both Less Than Zero and American Psycho... How do they compare?

Much preferred Less Than Zero to American Psycho.

Also, I should add: I rate Geek Love very, very highly. I wouldn't let the Amazon description deter you. I recommend it unconditionally.

[tituspowell]

Thanks for the warning. I've just bought both that and Blood Meridian on the Kindle. I might start a thread asking for some light, cheerful reading afterwards!

P.S. Thanks Steve; looks like I need to get Geek Love and Less Than Zero too then.

[AprilTara]

If you're a fan of Chuck P. and BEE, you'll probably like Will Christopher Baer. He wrote the "Phineas Poe" trilogy which consists of:
Kiss Me, Judas (Phineas Poe)
Penny Dreadful (Phineas Poe)
Hell's Half Acre

I'm not sure if this is still available, but the copy I have is all three books bound into one.

I can't believe I've been a fan of this type of story for so long and never knew until today that it had a name. I just always called it "dark stuff".

[John A. A. Logan]

I don't know if it's on Kindle, I'd be pretty surprised if it was, but CAIN'S BOOK, by the Scottish writer, Alexander Trocchi, a book about heroin addiction by a major addict, set in 1950s New York where Trocchi lived then...but also a beautifully written and touching book...I think the paperback used to have a quote from Norman Mailer on the back saying something about the writer's genius and the book's art.

I second A CONFEDERACY OF DUNCES...no-one can have any doubt about the book's transgressions after reading the scene...involving "Rex" I think the name was. One of my favourite novels though...

Really though, the transgressions of Easton Ellis, Welsh, Palahniuk etc........are as nothing compared to what goes on in Knut Hamsun's 1890 novel, HUNGER.
Or, for that matter, Dostoyevsky's NOTES FROM UNDERGROUND and his other books...

Hamsun and Dostoyevsky have heart and soul invested in their psychological and spiritual transgressions.

[Tony Richards]

Much preferred Less Than Zero to American Psycho.

I'd second that. Which doesn't mean that AP isn't worth a look.

[tituspowell]

Thanks for the recommendations. I'll put both 'Maribou Stork Nightmares' and 'Blood Meridian' on the To Read list then.

Just finished Marabou Stalk Nightmares. Thanks for the recommendation, David. It does ramble and is very disturbing in places but ultimately I enjoyed it a lot. Definitely counts as transgressive fiction.

[Jorja Tabu]

I love all the titles mentioned that I read--Geek Love is a real favorite, but it has elements of fantasy, I think, that differentiate it a little bit.  As far as classics/non-fiction go, I'm surprised nobody mentioned Hunter Thompson, particularly Hell's Angels.  But my favorite non-fiction addition to this genre (so weird to think of it that way) would be Jerry Stahl's Permanent Midnight.  So.  Good.

[headofwords]

I love all three of those authors, they're just great and I can see how their fiction could be lumped into the same category.  Another I might consider part of the group is James Frey, although I've only read his first (supposedly) autobiographical book.

Chris Ward

[headofwords]

If you're a fan of Chuck P. and BEE, you'll probably like Will Christopher Baer. He wrote the "Phineas Poe" trilogy which consists of:
Kiss Me, Judas (Phineas Poe)
Penny Dreadful (Phineas Poe)
Hell's Half Acre

I'm not sure if this is still available, but the copy I have is all three books bound into one.

I can't believe I've been a fan of this type of story for so long and never knew until today that it had a name. I just always called it "dark stuff".

Agreed with this.  I bought Kiss Me Judas on a whim a few years ago and I loved it so much I used to limit myself to one chapter a day.  I heard it described as "noir" fiction, though, but it certainly has an offbeat style, and the characters are great.

[Steve Silkin]

nobody mentioned Hunter Thompson, particularly Hell's Angels. 

Have a look at the chapter about Thompson's Hell's Angels in the book, "The Gang That Wouldn't Write Straight." Pretty surprising revelation of Thompson's self-mythologizing. (At least, surprising to me - but maybe I'm naive and when I read the book years ago I thought it was fact, not fictionalized.)

[CoffeeCat]

I never really thought of Palahniuck as Transgressive. I've always loved his works, and Transgressive fiction but those two never clicked for me before.

My favorite Transgressive authors that come to mind are:
Dennis Cooper - In university, some had a hard time choosing his books as reading material for courses because of the violence and gay sex but I love his writing. Frisk and The Sluts are my favorites by him.

I also loved JT Leroy's Sarah and The Heart is Deceitful Above All Things.