The Usual Suspect

[My first thoughts.]

The usual suspect:

• American Psycho, by Bret Easton EllisThis book is tough to get through because of how much

Ellis depicts the graphic nature of its subject--so much that the reader (and I assume writer) must question themselves, how much am I implicating myself in/endorsing the violence that the book is representing? Shit, we could book club it, everyone read for next class (most probably already have). I actually really like this idea, but maybe this isn't the class for it. And, Ellis isn't endorsing anything in the book; it's actually a very moral tale--but, due to how it is written, it still very much applies to this discussion.

There are others, of course, such as

• Almost anything by deSade, I believe (I have only read Justine)
• some of Bukowski's short stories (and the novel Women, I think)

But these works don't seem to be as aware of Ellis as the tightrope between writer of and actor within the subject he is writing about: basically, egoistic hedonism, rape, murder, etc.

[originally posted by Travis]