Brett Easton Ellis is a successful American author known for his minimalist style and controversial fourth book, American Psycho. His first book, Less Than Zero, was a hit and seen as a deconstruction of the nihilistic 1980s. Lunar Park is seen as a return to form for Ellis, using his life as a backdrop for a psychological tale. Ellis takes risks with his writing and pushes boundaries to make a point about society’s relationship with art.
Brett Easton Ellis is an American author famous for being the voice of Generation X. His first book, published at the age of 23, has been translated into 25 languages and made him famous and rich. His fourth book caused one of the greatest controversies in the literary world.
Brett Easton Ellis was born in Los Angeles in 1964. His father, a successful real estate developer, was the catalyst for much of his writing. Much of Ellis’ writing is seen by some as a therapeutic way to weed out his demons.
Her first novel was Less Than Zero, published in 1985, the story of a group of shallow characters in Los Angeles whose main concerns are substance abuse and sex in a meaningless society. It became an instant hit and was seen by many as a positive deconstruction of the nihilistic 1980s.
The book was written in a spare, minimalist style. This is one of Ellis’ strengths, the ability to address important issues about society in a streamlined style. Her style has been much imitated, but seldom bettered. While coming across a writer who limits himself to observing and reporting, he is actually a very moralistic author.
Moralistic was not a term used by many people in the publication of Ellis’ fourth book. American Psycho, released in 1991, was widely denounced for its misogynistic content. Ellis used black humor to tell the story of a homicidal stockbroker at large in 1980s New York City. Many people have criticized the graphic descriptions of murder and sex. The book was in fact another moral statement about a decade that knew the price of everything but the value of nothing.
Original publishers Simon & Schuster lost US$300,000 (USD) when they refused to publish it. Many women’s rights groups protested the author and the book. Thousands of column inches were written on American Psycho, and the publicity for Ellis was enormous. The book became a best seller and brought the author out of the underground.
Ellis claimed Patrick Bateman, the crazed yuppie from American Psycho, was based on his father. Ellis had unresolved differences with his father. Ellis again used his father as the backdrop for his sixth novel, Lunar Park, published in 2005.
Lunar Park is one of Ellis’ most densely layered books. After the indifferent reception to Glamorama, released in 1998, Lunar Park is seen as a return to form for Ellis. The story cleverly uses Ellis’ life as a backdrop for a psychological tale of father-son relationships, the loss of youth, past sins and guilt. It’s a very original concept that works effectively depending on how the reader relates to the themes.
Brett Easton Ellis is an author who, unlike many, takes huge risks with his writing. American Psycho is the work of an author who pushes the boundaries to make a point about the world we live in and its relationship to art. As writer Norman Mailer has said of Ellis, he is a writer who has forced us to look at intolerable material, and few novels still try so hard.
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