sashmantitch

Hey there Mr. Bret Easton Ellis,

I just completed my undergraduate degree in English Literature. I had to write a 10,000 word dissertation and I chose to write it on your first four novels. You’re a remarkable writer. I felt I had to probe deep beneath the surface of your work to truly get to the bottom of it. If you’re so inclined you can read it, I’ve included the link after the questions.

1. Why do you feel it necessary to explain the ambiguities in your novels? For example, you stated in a tweet that Sean Bateman is gay. In The Rules of Attraction, we’re not sure who’s lying, Bateman or Denton. Their stories conflict. Your revealing of Sean’s homosexuality seems to imply the sex between the two probably happened. Why not leave the questions there for the readers to mull over?

2. In Section 5 of the Fourth chapter of Glamorama, the words ‘Disappear here’ appear before Victor Ward. Is there any meaning behind this? Or are you just playing the ol’ post-modern trick of sticking a bit of authorial self-awareness in there (in this case referencing Less Than Zero)?

3. Patrick Bateman appears in The Rules of Attraction. When you wrote his monologue did you already have an idea of the kind of character he’d be in American Psycho?

These are real specific questions but I hope you appreciate I just gave over 6 months of my life to reading your books religiously and picking each word and sentence apart with a fine-toothed comb. It was worth it though. You’re a talented man.

Here’s my dissertation:

https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B9mdwXmtGsblM3JPRHROdzNPZFk/edit?usp=sharing

EDIT: toothcomb

They placed a gun to our heads and demanded it. We obeyed and tried to act sincere. We handed them in, they were marked, and left to rot in a filing cabinet. Thank you for answering my questions. Forever a faithful follower.

Do you...jizz?

I suppose like anything in life something can just feel right, without really making much sense to you but probably making sense to a lot of other people. You pursue it but you don't know why. So it doesn't make me mad. The fact is, once a writer publishes a book, he loses control of it. People can apply infinite interpretations to a text to the point where what the author originally intended means nothing anymore. It's just interesting when authors like Ellis attempt to break this mould by either pleading ignorance or trying to explain it. Adds a new dimension to the author-writer-reader relationship.

If you do, then thank you!