Taboo in language, literature and culture Krzysztof Ozga

In every culture, society or community there are practices considered objectionable, topics likely to be shunned and words bd to be avoided in the official discourse. Yet they find their place in human interactions as important factors of life and are commonly labelled as taboo. An interesting aspect of taboos in the fact that they are by and large culture specific and they tend to change whit time – something that used to belong with taboo may become a standard a couple of decades later and as the motto points out it is unlikely to revert to its previous “unspoken” status. The present volume contains eight studies that deal with various facets of taboo in diverse context captured at a particular period of time and ranging from the domestic to the sublime