American Psycho
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American Psycho | |
American Psycho UK issue cover |
|
Author | Bret Easton Ellis |
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Cover artist | Marshall Arisman |
Country | USA |
Language | English |
Subject(s) | Satire of consumerism[1] |
Genre(s) | Transgressional fiction, Novel |
Publisher | Vintage Books, New York |
Publication date | 1991 |
Pages | 384 |
ISBN | See Below |
American Psycho is a 1991 novel by Bret Easton Ellis. It is a first-person narrative of the life of a wealthy young Manhattanite and self-proclaimed serial killer. The graphic violence and sexual content generated much commentary at the novel's release. A film adaptation was released in 2000 to mostly positive reviews.[2] That same year, Ellis approved emails collected under the title "AmPsycho 2000 Emails" that were sent from main character Patrick Bateman to his therapist.[3] Users could sign up to receive these emails at Universal's website for the movie.
Contents[hide] |
[edit] Synopsis
Set in Manhattan and beginning on April Fools' Day 1987, American Psycho spans roughly two years in the life of wealthy young investment banker Patrick Bateman. Bateman, 26 years old when the story begins, narrates his everyday activities, from his daily life among the upper-class elite of New York to his forays into murder by nightfall.
Bateman comes from a privileged background, having graduated from Philips Exeter Academy, Harvard (class of 1984), and then Harvard Business School (class of 1986). He works as a vice president at a Wall Street investment bank and lives in an expensive Manhattan apartment on the Upper West Side. He embodies the 1980s yuppie culture. Through present tense stream-of-consciousness narrative he describes his conversations with colleagues in bars and cafes, his office, and nightclubs, satirizing the vanity of Manhattan yuppies.
The first third of the book contains no violence, and is simply an account of what seems to be a series of Friday nights, as Bateman documents traveling with his colleagues to a variety of nightclubs, where they indulge in massive amounts of cocaine, drink a variety of alcoholic beverages, critique fellow clubgoers' clothing, trade fashion advice, and question one another on proper etiquette.
Beginning with the second third of the book, Bateman begins to describe his day-to-day activities, which range from committing brutal violence (such as the torture of a young woman by trapping a rat in her cheese-filled vagina) to such mundanities as renting videotapes and making dinner reservations. Bateman's stream of consciousness is occasionally broken up by chapters in which Bateman directly addresses the reader in order to critique the works of various 1980s musicians such as Whitney Houston.
In addition to describing his daily life, Bateman also speaks at length about his love life. He is engaged to a fellow yuppie named Evelyn, though he possesses no deep feelings for anyone; additionally, he frequently solicits sex with attractive women ("hardbodies"), manipulates his secretary's feelings for him, and tries to avoid the attention of Luis, a closeted homosexual colleague who confesses his love for Patrick. Bateman also documents his relationship with his estranged family, including his senile mother, whom he visits to present with a pair of Wayfarers while she lays semi-comatose in a nursing home, and his younger brother, a hedonistic college dropout.
As the book progresses, Bateman's grip on reality seems to begin deteriorating and his murders become increasingly violent and complex, going from simple acts of violence to drawn out sequences of torture, rape, mutilation, cannibalism, and necrophilia. He starts to randomly slip in anecdotes about serial killers into his casual conversations, and at some points confesses these murders to his co-workers, who either react as if Bateman is simply joking with them and displaying his interest in a strange hobby, or completely misunderstand him ("murders and executions" becomes "mergers and acquisitions"). As the book nears its conclusion, Bateman begins to describe such incidents as seeing a Cheerio interviewed on a talk show, being stalked by an anthropomorphic park bench, and being ordered to kill cats by a demonic ATM. These incidents both serve to demonstrate Patrick's mental state and to draw into question whether Bateman has actually committed any of the murders he has described, or whether or not he was insane from the start.
The incipit of the book has Bateman staring at a graffito on a Chemical Bank building, reading Abandon all hope ye who enter here. The book ends with a scene similar to its beginning, as Bateman sits in a bar, staring at a sign that reads "THIS IS NOT AN EXIT".
[edit] Characters
[edit] Major characters
- Patrick Bateman
- Evelyn Williams - Bateman's fiancee
- Timothy Price (Timothy Bryce in the film version) - Bateman's best friend and colleague
- Paul Owen (Paul Allen in the film version) - Bateman's colleague
- Jean - Bateman's secretary (who is in love with him)
- Luis Carruthers - Co-worker who is in love with Bateman
- Courtney Lawrence (Courtney Rawlinson in the film version) - Luis's girlfriend who is having an affair with Bateman
- Craig McDermott - Bateman's colleague, part of a social foursome (later a trio for most of the novel) alongside Bateman, Timothy Price and David Van Patten
- David Van Patten - Bateman's colleague, also part of Bateman's main social group
[edit] Minor characters
- Christy - A prostitute, employed and abused sexually on multiple occasions by Bateman
- Marcus Halberstam - Bateman's colleague; Paul Owen repeatedly mistakes Bateman for Marcus
- Donald Kimball - Private detective hired to investigate Paul Owen's disappearance
- Tom Cruise - Patrick Bateman shares an apartment block with Cruise, and encounters him in the building's elevator
- Jeremy Gorman - Minor role as a singer in a gay club Bateman visits.
- Natalie 'Toddi' Toderello - a devious transvestite Bateman encounters and surprisingly doesn't kill after discovering she is actually a man.
- Sean Bateman - younger brother of Patrick Bateman and also the lead character of The Rules of Attraction
- Paul Denton - friend of Paul Owen. Also appears in The Rules of Attraction He is attracted to Sean Bateman (Patricks brother).
- Christopher Armstrong - Bateman's colleague at Pierce & Pierce
- Huey Lewis & The News - discussed by Bateman for an entire chapter.
- Genesis (band) - discussed by Bateman for an entire chapter and a small comment is also made upon Phil Collins' solo career.
- Whitney Houston - discussed by Bateman for an entire chapter.
- U2 - Bateman and his friends attend a U2 concert where he feels a connection with Bono during a song.
[edit] Bateman's personality
On first appearance, Bateman exemplifies the image of the successful Manhattan executive; he is well-educated, wealthy, unusually popular with women, abreast of cultural trends, belongs to a prominent family, has a high-paying job, and lives in an upscale, chic apartment complex. Bateman passes for a refined, intelligent, thoughtful young man. Yet, contrary to his persona, he tortures and murders victims, practices violent sex, cannibalizes victims, and sexually penetrates body parts of corpses. For transportation, Bateman uses personal limousines to search for suitable victims in the streets.
Bateman is extremely style-conscious, and appears an expert in fashion and high-end consumer products. In his narrative, he obsessively describes his and other people's possessions in exhaustive detail, focusing particularly on attire, and even noting articles like pens, and pocket squares. He has a general tendency to pay more heed to the designer, place of purchase, and style of the items he describes, often ignoring the textile type or color. Bateman incisively answers his friends' and co-workers' queries, authoritatively explicating the difference between various types of mineral water, which tie knot is less bulky than a Windsor knot, and the proper way to wear a cummerbund, pocket square, or tie bar.
Bateman's job is a sinecure to which he feels no need to apply himself, owing to his family's wealth and influence. He is supreme in his own world; he usually comes to work late—sometimes by more than an hour—and indulges in long lunches. Despite these advantages, Bateman's envy of his peers runs throughout the novel. In a scene in which characters compare business cards, Bateman panics when he realizes a friend's card is superior to his because it includes a watermark.
[edit] Controversy
- The book was originally to have been published by Simon & Schuster in March 1991, but the company withdrew from the project because of the novel's content. Vintage Books purchased the rights to the novel and published an edited version of Ellis' original manuscript.
- Ellis received numerous death threats and hate mail after the publication of American Psycho.[1][4]
- Feminist activist Gloria Steinem was among those opposed to the release of Ellis' book because of its portrayal of violence towards women. Steinem is also the stepmother of Christian Bale, who portrayed Bateman in the film adaptation of the novel. This irony is mentioned in Ellis's mock memoir Lunar Park.
- In Germany the book was deemed "harmful to minors", hence its sales and marketing were severely restricted from 1995 to 2000.
- A copy of the book was found in the house rented by Canadian serial murderers Paul Bernardo and Karla Homolka, leading to speculation that the book had motivated Bernardo's crimes.[citation needed] However, the first murder by Bernardo and Homolka happened in December 1990, before the book's publication.
- In Australia the book is sometimes sold shrink-wrapped and is classified R18 under national censorship legislation. The book may not be sold to those under 18 years of age, otherwise criminal prosecution may result. Along with other Category 1 publications, its sale is theoretically banned in the state of Queensland. In Brisbane, the novel is available to those over eighteen from all public libraries and is still able to be ordered and purchased (shrink wrapped) from many book stores despite this prohibition.
[edit] International Standard Book Numbers (ISBNs)
- ISBN 0-671-66397-6 (hardcover, 1991)
- ISBN 0-679-73577-1 (paperback, 1991)
- ISBN 84-406-3712-8 (paperback, 2000)
- ISBN 2-02-025380-1 (paperback, 2000)
- ISBN 3-462-02261-X (paperback, 2000)
- ISBN 0-330-48477-X (paperback, 2000)
- ISBN 0-330-49189-X (paperback, 2002)
- ISBN 978-0-330-44801-7 (paperback, 2006)
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ a b Messier, Vartan (2005). "Canons of Transgression: Shock, Scandal, and Subversion from Matthew Lewis's The Monk to Bret Easton Ellis's American Psycho" (pdf). Dissertation Abstracts International 43 (4): 1085 ff. (University of Puerto Rico, Mayaguez). Chapter Pornography and Violence: The Dialectics of Transgression in Bret Easton Ellis's American Psycho provides an in-depth analysis of the novel.
- ^ Metacritic reviews for American Psycho
- ^ American Psycho Am.2000 Emails
- ^ Bret Easton Ellis at the Internet Movie Database