This book provides a stimulating introduction to the concept of literary transgression which shows students how to interpret it from various theoretical standpoints and demonstrates its historical development.It offers a significant re-evaluation of the central concept of transgression and charts its cultural and historical development. It covers a broad range of literature from different historical periods including Epic verse and Gothic fiction. It provides detailed close readings of texts to aid students' understanding.Julian Wolfreys introduces students to the central concept of transgression, showing how to interpret the concept from a number of theoretical standpoints. He demonstrates how texts from different cultural and historical periods can be read to examine the workings of 'transgression' and the way in which it has changed over time.