Untitled - Sexey's School Moodle

More documents

Recommendations

Info

145 In recent history, no book has been received with the level of outrage that characterized the release of Ellis’ 1991 novel about a Wall Street serial killer. Reviews deplored its extremely graphic content which jovially and dispassionately offered up scenes of sex, mutilation, and murder to punctuate the toneless blather of the Yuppie lifestyle. Various groups and individuals campaigned for a national boycott of the novel because of the acts of pornographic violence it portrays, while in other countries authorities attempted to ban American Psycho 18 . The protest against the novel closely resembles that regarding the potentially harmful effects of displays of sex and violence in the media. However, the general public is largely unperturbed by such concerns, and rather than being appalled, people are either totally indifferent and desensitized or have fully embraced the various representations of sex and violence as they appear in movies, magazines, videogames, and television, regarding them as valid—and highly stylized— forms of entertainment. Hence, at a time when audiences are fascinated by the images of gore and pornography offered by popular media and the entertainment industry, it seems surprising that a work of contemporary fiction could have generated such outrage. The scandal that characterized the release of Ellis’ novel sheds light on the patterns of reception of literature in a cultural context that is in constant mutation due to the fast-paced nature of the digital age and globalization. At the dawn of the twenty-first century, technology has redefined all aspects of human existence. While lacking a clear definition, postmodernism has drawn a highly intricate web of cross-cultural negotiations that have allowed for a radical degree of experimentation across genres and mediums. In 18 As a matter of fact, American Psycho was banned in Queensland while in the rest of Australia it was sealed in plastic and restricted to those 18 and over. See “X-Rated? Outdated” at http:// www.theage.com.au/articles/2003/09/19/1063625202157.html?oneclick=true
the aftermath of the “culture wars” that branded the second half of the twentieth century, a multitude of disciplines and cultural traditions are being revived. Established boundaries are constantly being pushed, and while society as a whole is polarized to the extremes, conceptualizations of the high and the low are continuously being challenged. In academia, particularly with regard to canon-formation discourses, the advent of multiculturalism has created a heavily fragmented environment where a multitude of distinct ideologies and perceptions of culture collapse and collide. It is precisely within this context of perpetual change and transition, shifting ideologies, and generalized mystification and anxiety that American Psycho needs to be considered. 146 By investigating how and why a text such as American Psycho produces shock, arouses controversy, and questions established norms and conventions, this chapter will argue that, contrary to Anthony Julius’ view, transgression has not become the norm, by exploring the ways in which Ellis’ text might possibly impact artistic canons and/or society as a whole. The discussion will start out by providing an analysis of the novel followed by a synopsis of the mixed reviews that characterized its reception. The next section outlines the possible similarities between American Psycho and The Monk and draws some parallels between the ways in which their content was processed through the cultural channels of reception and distribution. The discussion will then address the ways in which the explicit accounts of sex and violence contained in American Psycho relate to the key concepts of transgression articulated in Chapter Two, before showing how Ellis’ text acts as a social critique and might possibly challenge the prevailing cultural ideology of consumer capitalism. * * *
Page 2 and 3:
ABSTRACT This thesis examines the r
Page 4 and 5:
TABLE OF CONTENTS Acknowledgments 4
Page 6 and 7:
INTRODUCTION If one looks at the mo
Page 8 and 9:
…Achilles slit open his liver, th
Page 10 and 11:
following centuries due to the chan
Page 12 and 13:
favorably by its contemporaries on
Page 14 and 15:
REVIEW OF SECONDARY SOURCES This in
Page 16 and 17:
Whereas these historical accounts a
Page 18 and 19:
a framework under which transgressi
Page 20 and 21:
Chapter 1 CANON-FORMATION, TRANSGRE
Page 22 and 23:
amongst so-called “minorities”
Page 24 and 25:
elonged to—these works were at on
Page 26 and 27:
that person “is driven over the g
Page 28 and 29:
the third century. At Yavneh the sc
Page 30 and 31:
especially at the dawn of the twent
Page 32 and 33:
theater-goers (Stallybras et al. 84
Page 34 and 35:
emergence of new genres in literatu
Page 36 and 37:
have been produced to please the ma
Page 38 and 39:
Literature remained a favored means
Page 40 and 41:
poet lies in his powerful and beaut
Page 42 and 43:
specifically, it rebelled against t
Page 44 and 45:
according to Johnson, “discolored
Page 46 and 47:
while at the same time, establishin
Page 48 and 49:
There is no reason to assume that t
Page 50 and 51:
isolated case in the reception of l
Page 52 and 53:
During the period of revision of th
Page 54 and 55:
Henry Louis Gates Jr. It is only by
Page 56 and 57:
that remain canonical throughout th
Page 58 and 59:
academia, and thus participate acti
Page 60 and 61:
Chapter 2 SHOCK, SCANDAL, AND SUBVE
Page 62 and 63:
As is the case with canonical disco
Page 64 and 65:
Although in this excerpt Foucault
Page 66 and 67:
eplaces language, where language be
Page 68 and 69:
that one distinguishable characteri
Page 70 and 71:
Enlightenment period. In the case o
Page 72 and 73:
transgressive artworks and their re
Page 74 and 75:
sport of them. Nevertheless, it mai
Page 76 and 77:
a practice or belief, or a set ther
Page 78 and 79:
epressed instinctual drives stored
Page 80 and 81:
Within the perspective enunciated a
Page 82 and 83:
and high culture as did the Marquis
Page 84 and 85:
“interrogators,” those who subv
Page 86 and 87:
(sometimes, of the state itself),
Page 88 and 89:
taking action. In other words, by b
Page 90 and 91:
consequently, loses its transgressi
Page 92 and 93:
Chapter 3 WORLDS COLLIDE: CULTURAL
Page 94 and 95:
sub-genre of literature that was co
Page 96 and 97: case of the late eighteenth century
Page 98 and 99: As a reaction to this “democratiz
Page 100 and 101: To a certain extent, the Gothic is
Page 102 and 103: 101 To understand the controversy s
Page 104 and 105: historical value was intensively sc
Page 106 and 107: “dialogue,” rather a unilateral
Page 108 and 109: egarding cultural and political ide
Page 110 and 111: Watt argues that the latter conside
Page 112 and 113: and the name of its author was reve
Page 114 and 115: contextualization of their work and
Page 116 and 117: critical acclaim by following the p
Page 118 and 119: Radcliffe’s novels (245), a trans
Page 120 and 121: efficiency of the legal system. As
Page 122 and 123: controversy is finally dispelled, t
Page 124 and 125: 123 The distinction between Radclif
Page 126 and 127: 125 Even though The Monk was immens
Page 128 and 129: ejection of inherited dogma. This i
Page 130 and 131: that with regard to such material a
Page 132 and 133: they represented wanted to diffuse
Page 134 and 135: different generations of readers th
Page 136 and 137: elements—and its Preface, where t
Page 138 and 139: the unfavorable conditions under wh
Page 140 and 141: addition, following Michelle A. Mas
Page 142 and 143: suppress his passionate nature resu
Page 144 and 145: its tenure as a work of transgressi
Page 148 and 149: 147 Bret Easton Ellis’ American P
Page 150 and 151: depend on the individual, on his or
Page 152 and 153: transgressions. Ironically, even th
Page 154 and 155: While this episode can be perceived
Page 156 and 157: which he/she participates as well.
Page 158 and 159: In American Psycho, Ellis makes sim
Page 160 and 161: are responsible for provoking the m
Page 162 and 163: 161 Even so, as outlined earlier, t
Page 164 and 165: ecome inescapably appealing. The st
Page 166 and 167: overwhelming, or, in more extreme c
Page 168 and 169: Although Murphet’s appraisal of t
Page 170 and 171: argued above, the latter produces q
Page 172 and 173: “civilized” man is indeed no st
Page 174 and 175: males 25 . Such interrogations only
Page 176 and 177: liberal capitalism, two trends that
Page 178 and 179: type of laughter that would lead ho
Page 180 and 181: outburst that characterized the rel
Page 182 and 183: she chooses to be atypical by censu
Page 184 and 185: consumption, no matter how perverte
Page 186 and 187: asic material satisfaction but for
Page 188 and 189: to be “committed.” The question
Page 190 and 191: “serious” literature as prescri
Page 192 and 193: 191 As a satire, American Psycho do
Page 194 and 195: Batailles, Georges. Le Bleu du ciel
Page 196 and 197:
Fortier, Frances. “L’esthétiqu
Page 198 and 199:
Johnson, Samuel. “From Lives of t
Page 200 and 201:
Poe, Edgar Allan. “The Philosophy
Page 202 and 203:
Thoré. Théophile. “New Tendenci
show all

Untitled - Sexey's School Moodle

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?