Bret Easton Ellis

Easton Press Bret Easton Ellis books

American Psycho - signed modern classic - 2015
Less Than Zero - signed modern classic - 2018

 

Author Bret Easton Ellis

Bret Easton Ellis, born on March 7, 1964, is an American author and cultural commentator best known for his provocative and controversial novels that explore the excesses and disillusionment of contemporary society. Born in Los Angeles, California, Ellis grew up in a relatively affluent environment, an experience that would later influence much of his work. Ellis gained literary fame with the publication of his debut novel, Less Than Zero, in 1985. The novel, written during his college years at Bennington College, captures the hedonistic and nihilistic lifestyle of affluent Los Angeles youth in the 1980s. The novel's exploration of themes such as drug abuse, aimlessness, and moral vacuity brought Ellis recognition as a voice of the "brat pack" generation.

His second novel, Rules of Attraction (1987), continued to delve into the dark and cynical aspects of youth culture, exploring themes of love, relationships, and substance abuse on a college campus. Ellis's writing style, characterized by its detached and often satirical tone, drew both praise and criticism for its unflinching portrayal of contemporary society. However, it was Ellis's third novel, American Psycho (1991), that catapulted him to notoriety and sparked intense debates. The novel, a satirical critique of the excesses of the 1980s, tells the story of Patrick Bateman, a wealthy and psychopathic investment banker. The graphic violence and explicit content in American Psycho led to both acclaim for its social commentary and condemnation for its perceived glorification of violence against women. Over the years, Bret Easton Ellis has continued to publish novels, including The Informers (1994), Glamorama (1998), and Lunar Park (2005), each exploring different facets of contemporary culture and the human psyche. His works often elicit strong reactions due to their dark themes, explicit content, and exploration of societal decadence.

In addition to his career as a novelist, Ellis has been active as a screenwriter and cultural commentator. He has also hosted a popular podcast, "Bret Easton Ellis Podcast," where he engages in conversations about culture, politics, and the arts with various guests. Bret Easton Ellis remains a significant and polarizing figure in contemporary literature, known for his unapologetic exploration of the darker aspects of modern society. Whether through admiration or controversy, his impact on literature and cultural discourse continues to be felt.

 

American Psycho

Patrick Bateman is twenty-six and he works on Wall Street, he is handsome, sophisticated, charming and intelligent. He is also a psychopath. Taking us to head-on collision with America's greatest dream and its worst nightmare American Psycho is bleak, bitter, black comedy about a world we all recognise but do not wish to confront.

Patrick Bateman moves among the young and trendy in 1980s Manhattan. Young, handsome, and well educated, Bateman earns his fortune on Wall Street by day while spending his nights in ways we cannot begin to fathom. Expressing his true self through torture and murder, Bateman prefigures an apocalyptic horror that no society could bear to confront.

Less Than Zero

Set in Los Angeles in the early 1980s, this coolly mesmerizing novel is a raw, powerful portrait of a lost generation that experienced sex, drugs, and disaffection at too early an age, growing up in a world shaped by casual nihilism, passivity, and too much money.

Clay comes home for Christmas vacation from his Eastern college and re-enters a landscape of limitless privilege and absolute moral entropy, where everyone drives Porches, dines at Spago, and snorts mountains of cocaine. He tries to renew feelings for his girlfriend, Blair, and for his best friend from high school, Julian, who is careering into hustling and heroin. Clay's holiday turns into a dizzying spiral of desperation that takes him through the relentless parties in glitzy mansions, seedy bars, and underground rock clubs, and into the seamy world of L.A. after dark.