Time to talk about another 5 fantastic authors that I categorize under Transgressive Fiction according to their style and themes, how they use the power of writing to transgress the norms of their society and culture. Today we will talk about Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, Megan Abbott, Gillian Flynn, Katherine Dunn, and Violet LeVoit.
Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley
(30 August 1797 – 1 February 1851)
Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley was an English novelist who wrote the Gothic novel Frankenstein and The Last Man, which is considered an early
example of science fiction. In her own lifetime, Mary Shelley was taken seriously as a writer, though reviewers often missed her
writings' political edge.
“No man chooses evil because it is evil; he only mistakes it for happiness, the good he seeks.”
― Mary Shelley
Megan Abbott
(August 21, 1971)
Megan Abbott is an American author of crime fiction and of a non-fiction analysis of hardboiled crime fiction. Her novels and short stories have drawn from and re-worked classic
subgenres of crime writing, from a female perspective. Abbott was influenced by film noir, classic noir fiction, and Jeffrey Eugenides's novel The Virgin Suicides. (source) Two of her novels make reference to notorious crimes. The Song Is You is based around the disappearance of Jean Spangler in 1949, and Bury Me Deep on the 1931 case of Winnie Ruth Judd, dubbed "the Trunk Murderess".(source)
“in the end all the things you think matter are just disappointment and noise.”
― Megan Abbott, Dare Me
Gillian Flynn
(February 24, 1971)
Gillian Schieber Flynn is an American writer and my favorite books of hers are Sharp Objects, Dark Places, and Gone Girl, all three of which have been adapted for film or television.
She attributes her craft to her 15-some years in journalism. She said, "I could not have written a novel if I hadn't been a journalist first, because it taught me that there's no muse that's going to come down and bestow upon you the mood to write. You just have to do it. I'm definitely not precious."(source) Some critics have accused Flynn of misogyny due to the often unflattering depiction of female characters in her books. Flynn identifies as a feminist and feels that feminism allows for women to be bad characters in literature.
The one thing that really frustrates me is this idea that women are innately good, innately nurturing.
- Gillian Flynn
Katherine Dunn
(October 24, 1945 – May 11, 2016)
Katherine Karen Dunn was an American best-selling novelist, journalist, voice artist, radio personality, book reviewer, and poet from Portland, Oregon. She is best known for the novel Geek Love. Dunn began her first novel Attic while studying at Reed, and she left without graduating. In 1989, Dunn's novel Geek Love was a finalist for the National Book Award. She described her memory of when she began writing it in the late 1970s, walking to Portland's Washington Park Rose Garden, contemplating nature versus nurture and the genesis of the book with its publication in 1989. (source)
“I have been a believer in the magic of language since, at a very early age, I discovered that some words got me into trouble and others got me out. ”
― Katherine Dunn
Violet LeVoit
Violet LeVoit is a film critic and novelist whose work has appeared in RogerEbert.com,
TurnerClassicMovies.com, Allmovie.com, PressPlay.com, Bright Lights Film Journal, the Baltimore City Paper, Film Threat, and others. She is a two-time Emmy Award winner for PBS and is the author of the noir novels I Miss The World and Starstruck. (source)
“Knock knock.” “Who’s there?” “9/11.” “I shouldn’t even.” “No, come on.” “9/11 who?” “You swore you’d never forget.”
― Violet LeVoit, I Miss The World