Untitled - Sexey's School Moodle

threatening only to those who see in the novel a mirror-image of themselves and deny it;
those who are in favor of a hegemonic social order, of consumer culture and liberal
capitalism: right-wing conservatives, wealthy and ruthless C.E.O.s and stock brokers,
puritans, and other beaux-penseurs of the bourgeoisie. Echoing the reception patterns of
the transgressive work, Young also notes that in an effort to suppress their subversive
elements books that contain such disturbing material are usually ghettoized by the literary
establishment (90). Yet as demonstrated previously, within the western tradition there
seems to be a genuine legacy of works that have been labeled as “transgressive” at
various time periods. From Justine to Les Fleurs du Mal, Madame Bovary, Lady
Chatterley’s Lover to Ulysses, Beloved to The Native Son, all have stirred major
controversy during their respective times only to be canonized later, once the very
“transgressiveness”—obscenity, license, immorality, or violence—that characterized
them and marginalized them was deemed to contain a distinguishable literary quality and
redeemable social value. What is even more remarkable is that some of these works are
now considered to be the absolute pillars of certain literary trends and pivotal to
promoting new critical concepts and social ideas. While popular reception for American
Psycho was mostly characterized by outrage and indignation due to a gross
misinterpretation of the novel’s content, critical and academic circles have been more
indulgent and welcoming, perceiving that it contained material that ought to be examined
in more depth. Approximately ten years from its date of publication, American Psycho
has already been the subject of various scholarly articles and has also figured in various
class discussions and curricula.
190