Thèse numérisée par la Direction des bibliothèques de l'Université de Montréal.

This thesis examines the life and career of Bret Easton Ellis, and the influences of his work on the author's development as a writer. Part one encapsulates a novel written specifically for this thesis. 'Call waiting' is a harsh look at modern friendships, the role of work in these relationships and the proliferation of shallow communication through the advent of email. A critical reflection follows, examining the process that led to the novel's creation. Three specific areas are focussed on: the direct influence of Ellis' novel 'The rules of attraction' on the overall themes of 'Call waiting', the realisation of the project and the various editing changes and narrative developments that arose during the writing of the novel, and an examination of the inspiration behind the novel's creation. Part two considers Ellis' role in the literary world of the 1980s, his own complicity in the creation of a career as a celebrity author, and the carefully manufactured persona Ellis presents to the world. In Part three the thesis is concluded with a close analysis of the publication of Ellis' controversial novel 'American psycho'. This chapter explores the negative publicity the novel attracted and the possible causes of the ensuing backlash against the author. / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Le projet d'écriture de Bret Easton Ellis constitue un point aveugle dans l'horizon critique actuel. Pour pallier ce manque, nous nous penchons dans ce mémoire sur l'esthétique pragmatique particulièrement complexe (ou « scrappy », selon la définition de Barbara Herrnstein Smith; 1988) du personnage et de la communication chez Ellis afin de définir son projet d'écriture comme expérience de « descente dans le chaos », expression développée par Maria L. Assad (1991) à partir des réflexions de Thomas M. Kavanagh (1986) sur Les cinq sens de Michel Serres (1985). Pour ce faire, nous proposons une micro-lecture attentive du deuxième roman d'Ellis, The Rules of Attraction (1987), suivie d'un bref retour sur les cinq autres romans de l'auteur. Afin d'effectuer notre micro-lecture, nous avons mis sur pied une grille de lecture construite à l'aide des théories de la pragmatique de la communication et de l'identité empruntées aux sciences sociales, en nous concentrant essentiellement sur les pratiques narratives de l'identité et les états problématiques de la communication. Cette grille a été appliquée au roman grâce au logiciel d'analyse de discours NVivo 8 (approche de codification vivante). Les résultats obtenus ont été interprétés à partir d'une approche libre inspirée des études littéraires et largement informée par les théories des chaoticiens. Cela nous permet de montrer comment il est possible de faire appel à la pragmatique des personnages pour saisir leurs textures différenciées. Il apparaît alors que la pragmatique du personnage ellisien participe d'une esthétique disjonctive de la communication qui se répercute sur l'esthétique générale du texte comme « descente dans le chaos ». L'étude des autres aspects du roman d'Ellis (métadiscours, incipit et excipit, exergue, titre) vient confirmer l'influence des « chaotiques » (Hayles, 1991) sur le projet d'écriture ellisien, point de départ pour repenser The Rules of Attraction comme un jalon important dans le développement d'une écriture et d'une œuvre qui exploitent les possibilités narratives et culturelles du chaos. ______________________________________________________________________________ MOTS-CLÉS DE L’AUTEUR : Ellis Bret Easton, The Rules of Attraction, Pragmatique, Théorie du personnage, Chaos

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<p>This study investigates how an ambivalence surrounding men and masculinity has been expressed and exploited in Pop literature since the late 1980s, focusing on works by German-speaking authors Christian Kracht and Benjamin Lebert and American author Bret Easton Ellis. I compare works from the United States with German and Swiss novels in order to reveal the scope - as well as the national particularities - of these troubled gender identities and what it means in the context of recent debates about a "crisis" in masculinity in Western societies. My comparative work will also highlight the ways in which these particular literatures and cultures intersect, invade, and influence each other. </p><p> In this examination, I demonstrate the complexity and success of the critical projects subsumed in the works of three authors too often underestimated by intellectual communities. At the same time, I reveal the very structure and language of these critical projects as a safe haven for "male fantasies" of gender difference and identity formation long relegated to the distant past, fantasies that continue to lurk within our cultural currencies.</p> / Dissertation

Texte remanié de: Diss.--Hannover--Universität, 2005. / Notes bibliogr. Bibliogr. p. 435-459.

"Invasive cultures: American culture in Bret Easton Ellis’ American psycho” proposes that Ellis' small body of fictional works can be read as active critiques of American culture, detailing the ways in which this culture informs the current condition of American society in recent times. The larger intent of this thesis is to delineate and examine the relays between American culture, the forces of capitalism that underlie them, and their significant bearing on the social behaviour, personal expression and psychology of Ellis’ characters, who often directly assimilate and embody its characteristics, whether physically or mentally. Ellis presents his characters as deeply informed by their contact with the cultural realm. / Ellis' preoccupations with popular and consumer cultures, with the increasingly invasive mass media, and with a visually oriented society obsessed with surfaces, are all examined in the light of how these cultures are radically entangled with the consciousness and behaviour of his characters. In Ellis' fiction, the banal and the sensational are lucrative fixtures of a culture that functions as a commercial industry, driven by profit like any other, that exploits the desires and expectations of its consumers. Moreover, these common representations and modes of expression are presented as contagious, seeping into personal modes of self-expression. Just as Ellis instances how culture rigorously shapes the body and lifestyle, he also demonstrates through the stylized consciousness of his characters the media's powerful influence on their subjectivity and behaviour. This thesis focuses on American psycho (1991) but also discusses Ellis' other novels Less than zero (1984), The rules of attraction (1987), and The informers (1994).

Thesis (Ph.D.) -- University of Western Sydney, 2001. / Bibliography : p. 456-481.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Edinburgh, 2001.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--McMaster University, 2004. / Advisor: James King. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 270-280). Also available via World Wide Web.