The Transgression of Solid Normality: The Novels of the 1950s and 1960s

Abstract

This chapter’s aim is to present images of normality that surfaced from the novels of the first analysed period (the 1950s and 1960s). After reading and scrutinizing the novels for their dominant representations of what is normality, what emerged as the common feature of the novels is their presentation of various ways of confronting the solidity of normality. In other words, among many similarities in the books’ presentations of views on the essence of normality, the most important one refers to the representation of their protagonists’ attempts at or transgression of the solidity of normality. The existence of general societal pressure to conform to the pattern of normality, as the main characteristic of solid normality, is represented as being experienced by everybody, while the main heroes of these novels are painted as being in search of the best ways to address it. Most importantly, the novels suggest that there is always ‘the possibility of transgression’, which reflects the difficulty of the passage from ‘ought’ to ‘can’ (Derrida 1988: 133). The transgression of solid normality can be seen as not only telling us about the rules of the system, but also as pointing to changes to come in the following decades.