Report

Underground Library Annotations Report Promote Literature Resources used

Google Goodreads Novelist Time.com Modern Library Chuck Palahniuk’s website

Search Strategy Initial strategy

My initial strategy was to do a google basic search for “popular transgressive fiction” then browsed results and decided upon a Goodsreads link popular transgressive fiction books Popular Transgressive Fiction Books which was a list of two hundred and fifty books that were classified as transgressive.

Narrowing and refining

The list on Goodreads was organized by most popular so I browsed the top fifty and considering I needed items from the 50s onwards I tried to choose books from different decades. I selected 23 books that were suitable but then culled three of already having a novel from all three of these writers already in my bibliography.

Getting the information for my annotations

Once I selected an item I would search for it on Novelist using title search then get publishing details, appeal elements and rudimentary information about the plot and then search for it Goodreads by title search and gather more in depth plot details and read online reviewers comments to gather more perspective.

Describe usefulness of this annotated bibliography to the target audience and how it will promote this aspect of literature to chosen audience

Each item was selected because of it was classed as Transgressive on Goodreads. Novels American Psycho, Fight Club, Trainspotting, Naked Lunch, Crash, Clockwork Orange and Battle Royale I have previously read so before the blog was started were already under consideration.

The promotional qualities of my blog are the fact if you have read and enjoyed one of items then you will be able to find books that are analogous. It will additionally introduce people to a genre people were not aware of which may become their favorite genre.

Excluded Item Easton Ellis, Bret. Glamorama, New York: Vintage, 1998.

I have previously read this book it was in my original books list for the blog but it had to culled for the reason that I already had a Bret Easton Ellis novel American Psycho which is more popular and had an abundance of books in 1990s which would have made my timeline to 90s heavy.

Damned

Palahniuk, Chuck. Damned, New York: Doubleday, 2011.

Written by Chuck Palahniuk famous for writing Fight Club his newest novel like his previous works is darkly humorous and satirical as it follows 13 year old black sheep Madison who awakes in hell and tries to make the best out of her predicament.

Additionally the novel explores her previous pre hell life with as she lives unhappily with her rich father and movie star mother who compulsively adopt children from the Third World.

Drawing its humor from satire of celebrity culture to its cartoonish depiction of hell Damned is a great example of black humor that Chuck Palahniuk is capable of.

Clown Girl

Drake, Monica. Clown Girl,New York: Hawthorne Books, 2007.

Highly recommended by Chuck Palahniuk (the author of Fight Club) Clown Girl is a darkly humorous tale that follows Sniffles the Clown through bizarre escapades.

Set in Baloneytown which is a crazy strange metropolis filled with stoned dogs, clown prostitution and an abundance of other depressing characters.

Sniffles whose real name is Nita must attempt to keep her head above water financially and has to start doing things she would never do.

Clown Girl is entertaining absurdity immersed in black comedy but contains themes of modern feminism.

As previously mentioned Chuck Palahniuk who is a contemporary great transgressive author hails this novel as stated on his website and if Monica Drake’s next novels are as great as her dark debut Clown Girl she will be considered in the same class.

Clown Girl is most likely the best book you have never heard of.

Battle Royale

Takami, Koushun. Battle Royale, San Francisco, CA: Viz Media, c2003.

Battle Royale is a controversial dystopian novel that tells a story of class of high school students who part of totalitarian regime are pitted against each other on a deserted island for three days and only one can survive.

The novel has been highly criticized for its use of intense violence as it explains in graphic detail how each student hunts and kills another.

Fast paced and filled with adrenalin Battle Royale is a page turning science fiction thriller that does explore themes such as totalitarian governments, survival and competition in teenagers.

While being compared to Lord of the Flies and the Hunger Games this novel differentiates itself with its transgressive style becoming a contemporary transgressive classic.

Candy

Davies, Luke. Candy, New York: Ballantine Books, 1998

Set in Sydney Australia Candy tells a tale of a young couple’s addiction to heroin and each other and like all addictions it has euphoria and self destruction.

Once the narrator see’s Candy he is enthralled by her beauty and presence and they fall in love quickly.

Unfortunately their relationship turns sour when it becomes a threesome with heroin and they are forced to do abhorrent things to obtain money to sustain their habit.

Like many novels about drug culture Candy is filled with regret, pain and an abundance of dark humor but what sets Candy apart is its Australian setting where drug culture hasn’t really be explored so realistically.

Candy was adapted into a film starring Heath Ledger candy which was a moderate critical success but before watching the film read the book a rare Australian transgressive novel.

Fight Club

Palahniuk, Chuck. Fight Club, New York: W. W. Norton & Company ,1996.

How to maintain your identity and your masculinity in a world of consumerism? That is one of the many questions provoked in Fight club as it follows an anonymous narrator struggling with insomnia until he meets the charismatic Tyler Durden who together create an underground boxing club which quickly obtains many members who all try to regain their masculinity through fighting and anarchic acts of mischief.

Fight Club which was adapted into a highly successful film starring Brad Pitt feels like a piece of apocalyptic fiction and is darkly humorous in its tone.

Intended mature audiences those who can handled its intensity will find it quite enjoyable and it is a must have for generation X individuals.

Trainspotting

Welsh, Irvine. Trainspotting, New York: W. W. Norton, 1996.

Trainspotting is a fast paced novel about working class culture and heroin addiction in Edinburgh Scotland as it follows the lives of several young people in their punk lifestyles.

Told from multiple perspectives the novel could be considered book of short stories about each of the characters as they steal, go to concerts, cause mayhem, use heroin, drink pints, have abstract conversations, have relationships and run scams.

It heavily uses Scottish dialect in its writing adding more reality to the speech of these characters but also causing the reader to perhaps phonetically sound out some of the words.

It instantly got cult status for its depiction of a dark side of Scotland not often explored and for its black humor.

Trainspotting has adult content and should be read by people over 18 who are interested fast paced humorous read that goes against social norms.