This has been praised as ‘the’ seminal book on transgression, though I would say that Chris Jenks’  more far more recent Transgression is a really good lead-in to this book.  It’s dense, chewy and thoroughly academic, yet also very readable.

It seems to cover the following, though:

* Fairs (some of which evolved into…)

* Carnivals (one of the key cornerstones of transgression, which was controlled in as much as it could be by the government/church before they panicked at events taking place and just tried to squish it out of existence instead.)

* Pigs (and their peculiar position in the animal kingdom in relation to man, specifically.)

* Filth (the association of ideas opposed by the bourgeois being closely associated by them with filth and dirt)

* Maids (said bourgeois becoming sexually obsessed with the ‘lower class’ of people who work for them whilst they are children, holding both authority over them and not having power at the same time)

The authors cover things very thoroughly and make the theory very understandable.  It was a good read, even if the last few chapters were quite a slog.

It’s not a book about transgression in literature, but rather an analysis of the concept as a whole.  Jenks takes the same approach though does dedicate a chapter and a bit to looking at literature which seeks to transgress.  To the best of my knowledge, a long study into transgressive literature doesn’t exist yet.  Hmm.  PhD worthy?  I rather think so.

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