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1 Bret Easton Ellis' American Psycho MASARYK UNIVERSITY BRNO FACULTY OF EDUCATION Department of English Language and Literature Satirical and Transgressive Elements in Bret Easton Ellis’ American Psycho Diploma Thesis Brno 2011 Author: Supervisor: Bc. Jaroslav Matula Ing. Mgr. Věra Eliášová, Ph.D. Declaration Prohlašuji, že jsem závěrečnou diplomovou práci vypracoval samostatně, s využitím pouze citovaných literárních pramenů, dalších informací a zdrojů v souladu s Disciplinárním řádem pro studenty Pedagogické fakulty Masarykovy univerzity a se zákonem č. 121/2000 Sb., o právu autorském, o právech souvisejících s právem autorským a o změně některých zákonů (autorský zákon), ve znění pozdějších předpisů. I hereby declare that I have written this diploma thesis myself and that all the sources I have used are listed in the bibliography section. Jihlava, 6 December 2011 Bc. Jaroslav Matula 2 Acknowledgements My sincere thanks are due to my supervisor, Ing. Mgr. Věra Eliášová, Ph.D., for her constructive feedback, challenging ideas and valuable advice. 3 Table of Contents Introduction ..................................................................................................................... 5 1 Bret Easton Ellis‟ American Psycho: an overview of a “very annoying novel” .......... 7 1.1 From “moronic junk” to a “postmodern classic” ............................................ 9 1.2 Pigeonholing American Psycho ..................................................................... 11 1.3 American Psycho as a mélange of genres ..................................................... 14 1.4 American Psycho as a satire .......................................................................... 17 1.5 American Psycho as transgressive fiction ..................................................... 19 1.6 American Psycho as a postmodern novel: a brief summary .......................... 21 2 Patrick Bateman: a postmodern narrator ................................................................... 23 2.1 Patrick Bateman‟s narration: defining characteristics ................................... 23 2.1.1 Moving in a circle ............................................................................. 24 2.1.2 Creating ambiguity ............................................................................ 25 2.1.3 Reliability issues ............................................................................... 28 2.1.4 Satirical edge ..................................................................................... 33 2.2 Patrick Bateman‟s narration: the impact ....................................................... 35 2.3 Patrick Bateman‟s narration: a summary ...................................................... 39 3 Patrick Bateman: “total GQ” ..................................................................................... 40 3.1 Like a fashion magazine come to life: identity in American Psycho ............ 40 3.2 Like in a soap opera: pop culture in American Psycho ................................. 49 3.3 American Psycho: the death of thinking and the reception of the novel ....... 58 4 Patrick Bateman: a stylish killer ................................................................................ 61 Conclusion .................................................................................................................... 70 Works Cited .................................................................................................................. 72 4 Introduction As the title suggests, the prime objective that this diploma thesis tries to attain is to identify various satirical and transgressive elements contained in Bret Easton Ellis‟ American Psycho and subsequently analyse and interpret the role these elements perform in both the novel‟s structure and its storyworld. Since the complexity and thematic richness of American Psycho preclude dealing with the whole range of topics found in the text, the focus will be on several carefully selected motifs between which close connections are to be established so that a single overarching interpretation may then be suggested. The explanation for why I have chosen Ellis‟ novel as the topic of my thesis is fairly straightforward. It is a fascinating book in so many respects; not least because of the ambivalent feelings it may inspire. It sends a relatable message about present-day society, one possible interpretation of which is presented in this thesis, yet I do not share the grim view the author appears to take. It is witty, amusing and full of black humour, yet it has one of the most disgusting depictions of violence I have ever encountered in a work of literature. It is a page-turner, yet it seems at times as though the author tries on purpose to bore the reader out of his or her mind. It clearly has literary merit, yet it was catastrophically misunderstood and dismissed after its publication. All these characteristics of the novel will be discussed, or at least touched upon, in the following four chapters. Chapter 1 is an introductory chapter that provides an overview of the main features of American Psycho. The first part summarises the controversy surrounding the novel‟s publication, while the second focuses on four perspectives from which Ellis‟ work may be looked at. The next three chapters are all structured similarly – each of them takes one specific role of the novel‟s main protagonist, Patrick Bateman, as a starting point from which themes and formal aspects relevant to each of these roles are explored. Throughout these chapters attention is consistently drawn to the satirical and transgressive nature of Ellis‟ text – I will demonstrate that satire and transgressions, in terms of either content or form, constitute the basic building blocks of American Psycho. 5 Chapter 2 thus concerns itself with Bateman as a narrator and with the features defining his narration. Topics such as ambiguity and the narrator‟s reliability are discussed in detail, and the consequences of the employment of such a narrator are analysed. Chapter 3 centres around the portrayal of Bateman as a fashionista and pop culture aficionado, which brings into focus the question of pop culture as a source from which Ellis may have derived inspiration for the novel‟s structure as well as for the method of characterisation. The motifs of unstable identity and distorted perception are then identified as key components of the narrative. Chapter 4 concentrates on Bateman as a serial killer and deals with the depiction of violence in the novel. It is a further expansion of the conclusions made in the previous two chapters. My reading of American Psycho put forward in this thesis is an attempt to provide an interpretation that takes into consideration certain aspects of the novel that appear to have been neglected in the existing analyses of the text, especially the significant impact of pop culture upon the novel‟s structure and storyworld. Moreover, it is also an attempt to offer an interpretation that establishes causal links between several of the novel‟s themes with a view to identifying the key idea that may be considered to be the common denominator behind Bret Easton Ellis‟ scathing attacks on present-day society. 6 1 Bret Easton Ellis’ American Psycho: An Overview of a “Very Annoying Novel”1 American Psycho, the third of the seven thus far published literary works by American writer Bret Easton Ellis (born 1964), is a novel that had been written in the late 1980s and published in 1991. Having drawn a great deal of fierce criticism even prior to its official release, American Psycho provoked a veritable storm of protest and led to many a heated debate when it finally appeared following a great furore over the publication of the book. Although the opinion on the novel among academics and literary critics has considerably changed ever since and the novel has achieved cult status among lay readers, American Psycho still remains known primarily for the notoriety it has gained because of its highly controversial content.2 Set in New York City in the closing years of the 1980s,3 the story tracks the life of its main protagonist, the archetypal yuppie Patrick Bateman, and in doing so a picture is painted of a superficial, self-absorbed and self-centred narcissist par excellence. Bateman spends all his time (as well as substantial sums of money) securing reservations at the hippest restaurants, keeping his body in shape at the gym and his face and hair always superbly groomed, constantly making sure that he wears clothes by those fashion designers that are considered definitely in at that moment in time, obsessively keeping up to date with the latest developments in technology so as to own the most state-of-the-art stereo or a new top-notch cordless telephone, slavishly following pop music artists such as Whitney Houston or Genesis, and never missing a single episode of his favourite television talk show. In short, the main character is trapped in a world of fashion trends, advertisements for various products and pop culture where everything is for sale and meant to be consumed. There is, however, another aspect of the main character‟s description – a rather troubling one that has sparked all the controversy over the novel: apart from his yuppie, 1 This is how Ellis called his book in response to the widespread criticism that had been levelled at him after the publication (Cohen).What he obviously meant is that the book annoyed people by revealing unpleasant truths about our society. 2 All the controversy has undoubtedly helped to make American
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