Transgression and taboo in the poetry of Mario Azzopardi and Karl Schembri

Abstract

The act of a person transgressing social and cultural norms has always been an intriguing subject of research. ln our everyday encounters, we are constantly exposed to taboos and transgressions, which seem to be an intrinsic part of society the world over. This thesis analyzes the concept and practice of taboo, as well as artistic transgressions carried out in its domain, in Mario Azzopardi's Il-Fabbrikant tal-Marjunetti (The Puppet Maker) and Karl Schembri's Passju Tant ix-Xita (Hopscotch in the Rain). Sigmund Freud's seminal works, Totem and Taboo and Civilization and Its Discontents, together with Michel Foucault's The History of Sexuality have provided this research with its theoretical backbone, fleshed out by further theorists on the social and cultural dynamics of taboo subjects, images and language. Results from the analysis show that taboos and transgressions are ever-present, but most of them have gone through a process of evolution in relation to the changing values of the community in which they occur.