Help! -- Violent, Shocking Novels

[hunnypot294]

I'm new to the forums - so sorry if this is in the wrong place..

Can anyone help me? I'm looking to do a comparison essay for college, and want to read around specific books before deciding on two (or possibly three) to compare. I would like to base the essay on violence towards vulnerable people (ie the young, elderly or disabled), but haven't read or heard of many pieces of literature that can be connected to this - does anyone have any ideas?

The kinds of stuff I have been looking at include 'A Clockwork Orange' by Anthony Burgess (with the 'reformation' of Alex's ways by society), and 'Saved' by Edward Bond (a controversial play with a specific scene where a baby is eventually killed for 'fun').

Thanks for your help!!! :)

[Nightwalk]

Hello hunnypot, welcome to the forums.

The first book I would suggest is The 120 Days of Sodom by the Marquis de Sade. If I'm not mistaken the novel includes scenes of aristocrats sexually abusing underage children.

Another work would be Maldoror by the Comte de Lautreamont. There's one narrative there where the main character and his dog rape a very young girl before the former eventually butchers her.

In The Decadent Reader one comes across the story called "La Faenza" where a mother tries to seduce her son and is eventually murdered by him in a single act of violence.

Dostoevsky's Crime and Punishment and The Brothers Karamazov depict crimes that would fall in your topic, the first concerns the dispatchment of an old woman while the latter involves a patricide.

These books are mentioned in the "messed up literature" thread. There are also a lot of books mentioned in that topic that might be of interest to you. Check it out.

http://www.online-literature.com/forums/showthread.php?t=18742

Good luck on your essay and enjoy your reads.

[hunnypot294]

Nightwalk - thanks for the range of books, I'll definitely give them a read. Crime & Punishment looks like a good read, along with The 120 Days of Sodom, so I'll think I'll give them a look first, and then try the other ones.

Thanks for your help:D - if anyone else knows of any then let me know!!

[Koa]

Crime & Punishment was an excellent answer....

Well the definition "violent&shocking" made me think of American Psycho, although there the violence is so random that I'm not sure you'd take any sense out of it - at least I didn't... and maybe you don't want contemporary stuff.

I'm sure there's more out there...

[hunnypot294]

Koa - someone I know suggested American Psycho to me as well, so I will take a look at it and see what it's like, thanks for the advice :)