Incest Incest ( ) is sexual intercourse, sex between kinship, close relatives, for example a brother, sister, or parent. This typically includes sexual activity between people in consanguinity (blood relations), and sometimes those related by lineag ...

is an important thematic element and

plot device A plot device or plot mechanism is any technique in a narrative used to move the plot forward. A clichéd plot device may annoy the reader and a contrived or arbitrary device may confuse the reader, causing a loss of the suspension of disbelief ...

in literature, with famous early examples such as

Sophocles Sophocles ( 497/496 – winter 406/405 BC)Sommerstein (2002), p. 41. was an ancient Greek tragedian known as one of three from whom at least two plays have survived in full. His first plays were written later than, or contemporary with, those ...

' classic ''

Oedipus Rex ''Oedipus Rex'', also known by its Greek title, ''Oedipus Tyrannus'' (, ), or ''Oedipus the King'', is an Athenian tragedy by Sophocles. While some scholars have argued that the play was first performed , this is highly uncertain. Originally, to ...

'', a

tragedy A tragedy is a genre of drama based on human suffering and, mainly, the terrible or sorrowful events that befall a tragic hero, main character or cast of characters. Traditionally, the intention of tragedy is to invoke an accompanying catharsi ...

in which the title character unwittingly kills his father and marries his mother. It occurs in medieval literature, both explicitly, as related by denizens of Hell in

Dante Dante Alighieri (; most likely baptized Durante di Alighiero degli Alighieri; – September 14, 1321), widely known mononymously as Dante, was an Italian Italian poetry, poet, writer, and philosopher. His ''Divine Comedy'', originally called ...

's '' Inferno'', and winkingly, as between

Pandarus Pandarus or Pandar (Ancient Greek: Πάνδαρος ''Pándaros'') is a Trojan aristocrat who appears in stories about the Trojan War. In Homer's ''Iliad'' he is portrayed as an energetic and powerful warrior, but in medieval literature he b ...

and

Criseyde Cressida (; also Criseida, Cresseid or Criseyde) is a character who appears in many Medieval literature, Medieval and Renaissance literature, Renaissance retellings of the story of the Trojan War. She is a Trojan woman, the daughter of Calchas, a ...

Chaucer Geoffrey Chaucer ( ; – 25 October 1400) was an English poet, author, and civil servant best known for '' The Canterbury Tales''. He has been called the "father of English literature", or, alternatively, the "father of English poetry". He ...

's ''

Troilus Troilus ( or ; ; ) is a legendary character associated with the story of the Trojan War. The first surviving reference to him is in Homer's ''Iliad,'' composed in the late 8th century BC. In Greek mythology, Troilus is a young Troy, Trojan prin ...

''. The

Marquis de Sade Donatien Alphonse François, Marquis de Sade ( ; ; 2 June 1740 – 2 December 1814) was a French writer, libertine, political activist and nobleman best known for his libertine novels and imprisonment for sex crimes, blasphemy and pornography ...

was famously fascinated with "perverse" sex acts such as incest, which recurs frequently in his works, ''

The 120 Days of Sodom ''The 120 Days of Sodom, or the School of Libertinage'' () is an unfinished novel by the French writer and nobleman Marquis de Sade, Donatien Alphonse François, Marquis de Sade, written in 1785 and published in 1904 after its manuscript was r ...

'' (1785), '' Philosophy in the Bedroom'' (1795), and ''

Juliette Juliette is a feminine personal name of French language, French origin. It is a diminutive of Julie (given name), Julie. People * Juliette Adam (1836–1936), née Lamber, French author and feminist * Juliette Atkinson (1873–1944), American ten ...

'' (1797).

Modern literature

Vladimir Nabokov Vladimir Vladimirovich Nabokov ( ; 2 July 1977), also known by the pen name Vladimir Sirin (), was a Russian and American novelist, poet, translator, and entomologist. Born in Imperial Russia in 1899, Nabokov wrote his first nine novels in Rus ...

's novel '' Ada or Ardor: A Family Chronicle'' (1969) deals very heavily with the incestuous relationships in the intricate family tree of the main character, Van Veen.

Ernesto Sábato Ernesto Sabato (; June 24, 1911 – April 30, 2011) was an Argentine novelist, essayist, painter, and physicist. According to the BBC he "won some of the most prestigious prizes in Hispanic literature" and "became very influential in the literary ...

's '' On Heroes and Tombs'' explores, among other subjects, the romantic relationship between a man and his daughter. In his novel ''Hogg'', written in 1969,

Samuel R. Delany Samuel R. "Chip" Delany (, ; born April 1, 1942) is an American writer and literary critic. His work includes fiction (especially science fiction), memoir, criticism, and essays on science fiction, literature, sexual orientation, sexuality, and ...

employed incest as a way to push the boundaries of heteronormative sex.

Toni Morrison Chloe Anthony Wofford Morrison (born Chloe Ardelia Wofford; February 18, 1931 – August 5, 2019), known as Toni Morrison, was an American novelist and editor. Her first novel, ''The Bluest Eye'', was published in 1970. The critically accl ...

's debut novel ''

The Bluest Eye ''The Bluest Eye'' is the first novel written by American author Toni Morrison and published in 1970. It takes place in Lorain, Ohio (Morrison's hometown), and tells the story of a young African-American girl named Pecola who grew up following ...

'' (1970) tells the story of Pecola, a young girl raped by her father.

The Cement Garden ''The Cement Garden'' is a 1978 novel by Ian McEwan. It was adapted into a 1993 film of the same name by Andrew Birkin, starring Charlotte Gainsbourg and Andrew Robertson. ''The Cement Garden'' has had a positive reception since its original ...

(1978) by

Ian McEwan Ian Russell McEwan (born 21 June 1948) is a British novelist and screenwriter. In 2008, ''The Times'' featured him on its list of "The 50 greatest British writers since 1945" and ''The Daily Telegraph'' ranked him number 19 in its list of the ...

and

Flowers in the Attic ''Flowers in the Attic'' is a 1979 Gothic novel by V. C. Andrews. It is the first book in the Dollanganger series, and was followed by '' Petals on the Wind'', '' If There Be Thorns'', '' Seeds of Yesterday'', '' Garden of Shadows'', '' Christo ...

(1979) by V. C. Andrews explore the motive of teenage siblings attracted to each other.

Dorothy Allison Dorothy Earlene Allison (April 11, 1949 – November 6, 2024) was an American writer whose writing focused on class struggle, sexual abuse, child abuse, feminism, and lesbianism. She was a self-identified femme lesbian. Allison won a number o ...

wrote about incest and sexual abuse in '' Trash: Short Stories'' (1988) and ''

Bastard Out of Carolina ''Bastard Out of Carolina'' is a 1992 novel by Dorothy Allison. Semi-autobiographical in nature, the book is set in Allison's hometown of Greenville, South Carolina in the 1950s. Narrated by Ruth Anne "Bone" Boatwright, the primary conflict o ...

'' (1992). In Japanese literature, the

light novel A is a type of Genre fiction, popular literature novel from Japan usually classified as young adult fiction, generally targeting Adolescence, teens to Young adult, twenties or older. The definition is very vague, and wide-ranging. The abbr ...

series ''

Mushoku Tensei is a Japanese light novel series written by and later illustrated by Shirotaka. The series is about a jobless, overweight, reclusive man who dies and is reincarnated in a fantasy world. Retaining the memories from his previ ...

'' (2012) has several depictions of incestuous relationships.

Modern literature

See also

References

Further reading