Looking into discussions of transgressive literature, and its history, most people start with The 120 Days of Sodom. If you know what happens in it it is very clear that it is by far and away a flagship of the transgressive fiction genre.
However, I find it hard to believe that it took until the 1700s for such a book or story to be written. Surely someone or some group of artists before De Sade wrote a book or story that fits into the genre of transgressive literature. Be it a story about whatever acts of sexual depravity you can imagine or a story written in almost unreadable prose like some of the more experimental beatniks of the 1950s. Was there anything like this?
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Episode 103 of the AskHistorians Podcast featuring /u/DunkeyKung
/u/J-Force has previously answered Gaius Valerius Catullus is known for writing Catullus 16 – a poem whose first line has been called “one of the filthiest expressions ever written in Latin.” What was the public response to this poem at the time?
More remains to be written.