Alain-Philippe Durand

Naomi Mandel

This book investigates a new form of fiction that is currently emerging in contemporary literature across the globe. 'Novels of the contemporary extreme' - from North and South America, from Europe, and the Middle East - are set in a world both similar to and different from our own: a hyper real, often apocalyptic world progressively invaded by popular culture, permeated with technology and dominated by destruction. While their writing is commonly classified as 'hip' or 'underground' literature, authors of contemporary extreme novels have often been the center of public controversy and scandal; they, and their work, become international bestsellers. This collection of essays identifies and describes this international phenomenon, investigating the appeal of these novels' styles and themes, the reasons behind their success, and the fierce debates they provoked.

Novels of the Contemporary Extreme

This collection of critical essays on the American novelist Bret Easton Ellis examines the novels of his mature period: American Psycho (1991), Glamorama (1999), and Lunar Park (2005). Taking as its starting-point American Psycho's seismic impact on contemporary literature and culture, the volume establishes Ellis' centrality to the scholarship and teaching of contemporary American literature in the U.S. and in Europe. Contributors examine the alchemy of acclaim and disdain that accrues to this controversial writer, provide an overview of growing critical material on Ellis and review the literary and artistic significance of his recent work. Exploring key issues including violence, literature, reality, reading, identity, genre, and gender, the contributors together provide a critical re-evaluation of Ellis, exploring how he has impacted, challenged, and transformed contemporary literature in the U.S. and abroad.

American Psycho, Glamorama, Lunar Park

Bret Easton Ellis

In Against the Unspeakable, Naomi Mandel offers a paradigm of reading that will enable the crucial work on comparative atrocities and the representation of suffering to move beyond the impasse of "unspeakability." Discussing a variety of texts such as Toni Morrison's Beloved, Steven Spielburg's Schindler's List, and William Styron's Confessions of Nat Turner, Mandel asks: What does the evocation of the limits of language enable writers, authors, and critics to do?

Complicity, the Holocaust, and Slavery in America

Against the Unspeakable

Collection of new critical essays on Bret Easton Ellis, focusing on his later novels: American Psycho (1991), Glamorama (1999), and Lunar Park (2005).

Sarah Graham

Charts a new international writing phenomenon - 'contemporary extreme literature'.

Naomi Mandel

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