Untitled - Sexey's School Moodle

ABSTRACT
This thesis examines the relationship between transgressive texts–traditionally
defined as those that aim to challenge and possibly subvert the artistic, social, or political
traditions of a culture—and their acceptance within literary canons. First tracing the
evolution of the processes of canon-formation, this study develops a framework for
transgressive texts to reach canonical status, using John Guillory’s framework of
“cultural capital” to address the issue of canonicity and Georges Bataille’s theories on
transgression. While the taboo-breaking properties of transgressive texts might seem
directly to exclude them from meeting canonical criteria——traditionally strongly based
on ideas of social righteousness——this study proposes, however, that it is specifically
because of their ground-breaking perspectives that, as their stock as cultural capital
increases, texts such as Matthew Lewis’ The Monk and Bret Easton Ellis’ American
Psycho are capable of shaping and/or altering accepted perceptions of socio-cultural
standards and criteria.
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