Volume-XII, Special Issue, April 2026 |
The Concept of Transgressivity in Literature: A Geocritical Study Dr. Afsana Khatoon, Independent Research Scholar, Kolkata, West Bengal, India |
Received: 09.04.2026 | Accepted: 09.04.2026 | Published Online: 10.04.2026 | Page No: 425-438 | ||||
DOI: 10.29032/ijhsss.vol.12.issue.specialW.310 | |||||||
ABSTRACT | ||
Transgressivity, as theorized by Bertrand Westphal in Geocriticism: Real and Fictional Space (2007), constitutes a foundational premise of geocritical analysis. Derived from the Latin translatio meaning “to carry over,” transgression denotes the act of crossing boundaries—whether social, moral, political, metaphysical, or narrative. This paper undertakes a geocritical examination of transgressivity across three literary and mythological texts: Geoffrey Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales, the Greek creation myth as retold by Jean-Pierre Vernant, and Christopher Marlowe’s Doctor Faustus. The study argues that transgressive acts in literature are not merely devices for shock or comedy but serve as powerful tools to critique established orders, explore the limits of human nature, and provoke transformative thought. The analysis proceeds in three parts. First, examining Chaucer’s Wife of Bath as a social and cultural transgressor, the paper demonstrates how her proto-feminist voice and economic independence are spatially determined by the city of Bath—a place whose historical reputation for cloth-making and female autonomy enables her defiance of medieval patriarchal norms. Second, analyzing the Greek myth of Uranus and Gaia, the paper reveals how incest, castration, and cosmic rebellion function as foundational transgressions that establish spatial hierarchies (Tartarus, Olympus, and the Sea) while simultaneously generating moral order. Third, reading Marlowe’s Doctor Faustus, the paper argues that Faustus’s metaphysical transgression—his pact with Lucifer—is fundamentally geographical: his desire for omnipotence reflects an “aggressive ego” (Yi-Fu Tuan) seeking to extend dominion across earthly and cosmic space. Across all three texts, transgressivity emerges as a spatially embedded phenomenon that continuously erodes and reconstitutes the very boundaries it crosses. | ||
Keywords: Transgressivity, geocriticism, Bertrand Westphal, space and place, Chaucer, Marlowe, Greek myth, boundary crossing |