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Bret Easton Ellis (born March 7 , 1964 in Los Angeles , California ) is an American Author . He is considered to be one of the major Generation X authors and was regarded as one of the Brat Pack . His novels feature a "flat affect" and a glossy, empty style that garners him extremely polarized reviews. Ellis has been described as "a profoundly moral writer {Link without Title} characteristically spare and hypnotic prose style which beats out these lives of quiet desperation with a slow pulse as gentle as it is compelling" (''Modern Review''). He has called himself a moralist, while he has been pegged as a Nihilist . His characters are young, generally vacuous people, who are aware of their depravity but choose to enjoy it. The novels are also linked by common, recurring characters, and Dystopic locales (such as Los Angeles and New York ). BIOGRAPHY He was born in Los Angeles and raised in Sherman Oaks in the San Fernando Valley , the son of Robert Martin Ellis, a wealthy property developer, and Dale Ellis, a housewife. His parents divorced in 1982. He was educated at The Buckley School , where he did not distinguish himself, and then took a music-based course at Bennington College in Vermont , which is thinly disguised as Camden Arts College in his novel '' The Rules Of Attraction '' and his other books. He was a part-time musician in some minor 1980s bands, such as The Parents, before his first book was published while he was still a student. '' Less Than Zero '', a tale of disaffected, rich teenagers of Los Angeles, was well received by the critics and sold respectably (50,000 copies in its first year). He moved to New York in 1987 to release his second novel. His most controversial work, the graphically violent novel '' American Psycho '', was intended to be published by Simon & Schuster , but they withdrew after external protests ( NOW , and many others, considered the novel dangerously Misogynistic and worse) and pressure from Gulf & Western . The novel was later published by Vintage . Some consider this novel, whose Protagonist , Patrick Bateman , is both a cartoonishly materialistic Yuppie and a Serial Killer , to be an example of Transgressive Art . American Psycho has achieved considerable cult status. PERSONAL LIFE He was known to be Bisexual for most of his life, but in August 2005 he broke his silence about his Sexual Orientation and told The New York Times that his best friend and lover for six years, Michael Wade Kaplan, died in January 2004 , at the age of 30. His latest novel, Lunar Park, was dedicated to Michael Wade Kaplan as well as his father, Robert Ellis, in which he speaks openly about in interviews done for this novel. Robert Ellis died in 1992. In one interview he states, "Saying that: I suppose there were moments during the writing of Lunar Park that made me sad because I was writing about unresolved feelings I had about my father and I was drawing on a lot of negative stuff that had happened between the two of us. On the other hand by the time I finished the book I felt liberated. I did feel I had worked something out between the two of us--even though my main intention was to write a fun genre novel. When his ashes are spread at the end of the book I felt something lift off me." In yet another interview Bret Easton Ellis states, "My feelings have changed. You get older, you mellow out. My father was a tough case and there was a lot of damage done. But since his death in 1992—and writing about the feelings I have experienced and that are detailed throughout Lunar Park—obviously I’ve thought about him differently than I did, say, when I was writing Glamorama (which I had begun writing while he was still alive), which at the heart of its conspiracy concerns the relationship between a father and a son. To a certain degree I’ve worked out a lot of issues I had with him, but I think a residue of anger and defeat will always exist. A child should never even think about being a “good son.” A parent decides that fate for the child. The parent encourages that. Not the child himself. And the “perfect dad”? I shudder at thinking what that may be." Bret Easton Ellis has said that the character of Patrick Bateman, from American Psycho, was originally based on his father. BIBLIOGRAPHY
FILMS ''Less Than Zero'' was made into a film in 1987, directed by Marek Kanievska and starring Andrew McCarthy , Robert Downey Jr and Jami Gertz . ''American Psycho'' was filmed in 2000 , directed by Mary Harron and starring Christian Bale . '' The Rules Of Attraction '' was filmed in 2002 , directed by Roger Avary and starring James Van Der Beek and Shannyn Sossamon . A film based on ''Glamorama'' is in pre-production. Additionally, there is a film called '' Glitterati '' being made that takes place in between the events of ''The Rules of Attraction'' and ''Glamorama'', which is slated for release before ''Glamorama''. A film about Ellis, titled ''This Is Not an Exit: The Fictional World of Bret Easton Ellis'', was made in 2000. The film is a combination of a Documentary on his life as well as dramatizations of scenes from his books. TRIVIA Ellis often uses recurring characters and settings. Major characters in one novel may become minor ones in the next, or vice versa. Camden College, a fictional New England Liberal Arts college is frequently referenced. It is based on Bennington College , which Ellis himself attended.
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