Narratology of shock: affectivity and transgression in contemporary extreme fiction

Abstract Narrative fiction that aims for shock value exhibits two conflicting tendencies: it aims to be disturbing and repelling while simultaneously sparking readers’ fascination and drawing them closer. This dynamic is particularly fundamental for a subset of transgressive fiction we could call extreme fiction, ranging from prewar surrealist provocations to seedy 1970s exploitation and horror paperbacks to post-punk-influenced 1990s serial killer smashes and beyond to contemporary literary and popular fiction. These kinds of works embrace this contradiction through shocking representation of sadistic violence and sexual transgression that lures readers in precisely by being so nauseatingly repelling. In this article I analyze common affective narrative strategies that extreme fiction uses to simultaneously repel and fascinate readers. I examine how affective responses from readers are encoded into texts that often prefigure their reception by real readers. Drawing on several case studies, my analysis suggests that extreme fiction is anti-aesthetic by nature: through shock tactics, transgression of moral norms, and extreme themes it aims for affective responses that result in a puzzling combination of distaste and enjoyment in readers. Ultimately, I argue that extreme fiction forms a limit case of literature, which requires new narratological and aesthetic theorizing to make full sense of it.