En cours de chargement...
Bret Easton Ellis is most famous for his era-defining novel American Psycho and its terrifying anti-hero, Patrick Bateman. With that book, and many times since, Ellis proved himself to be one of the world's most fearless and clear-sighted observers of society - the glittering surface and the darkness beneath. In White, his first work of non-fiction, Ellis offers a wide-ranging exploration of what the hell is going on right now.
He tells personal stories from his own life. He writes with razor-sharp precision about the music, movies, books and TV he loves and hates. He examines the ways our culture, politics and relationships have changed over the last four decades. He talks about social media, Hollywood celebrities and Donald Trump. Ellis considers conflicting positions without flinching and adheres to no status quo. His forthright views are powered by a fervent belief in artistic freedom and freedom of speech.
Candid, funny, entertaining and blisteringly honest, he offers opinions that are impossible to ignore and certain to provoke. What he values above all is the truth. 'The culture at large seemed to encourage discourse,' he writes, 'but what it really wanted to do was shut down the individual.' Bret Easton Ellis will not be shut down.
No whitewashing allowed
One need not be a connoisseur nor an admirer of Bret Easton Ellis' fiction in order to find his first foray into non fiction 'White' a stimulating and intelligent read. Ellis oscillates between personal memoir and astute social analysis in this wide ranging essay which takes the reader from the cultural roots of Ellis' literary influences to his somewhat pessimistic vision of the future of the novel in our multimedia connected world. He is never afraid to disturb the complacent when comparing the relative simplicity of his youth during the latter part of the twentieth century with our current state of widespread social anomie and moral panic affecting the United States and other formerly stable parts of the Western world. Even if one doesn't always agree with Ellis' analysis, 'White' remains an indispensable read for getting a grip on the incredible extent of change since the advent of internet or the calamity of 9/11.