Paper Summary:

This paper explains that Jean Baudrillard's quotation refers to the commitment of contemporary American fiction to the pleasures and anxieties of consumer culture. The author states that this behavior is most fully exemplified in Bret Easton Ellis' "American Psycho" through his protagonist Patrick Bateman. The paper points out that the form of postmodernist texts, such as "American Psycho", opposes meta-narratives, which are the traditional method of writing. The author relates that the book's constant suggestion of boredom is often seen in other post modern art forms, such as the music of Talking Heads. The paper illuminates that Baudrillard's reference to "all life" is an over-generalization just as Patrick Bateman's conduct positions him at an extreme perimeter. The author concludes "American Psycho" contains a pertinent response to Baudrillard's resigned allusion to superficiality and the way in which many of people, not only psychopaths, actually live their lives.

From the Paper:

"Baudrillard's statement seems to have an air of ennui, or resignation, suggesting perhaps, that we have become immune to the reality of our emotions, being smothered (or embosomed, perhaps), by globalization. Notwithstanding Baudrillard's eminent status, (his Wikipedia page lists his academic achievements at some length), it would ill behoove us, as critics, to simply accept that this is, quite simply how things are, and that we might as well get used to it. Bateman, for this critic, gives the lie to Baudrillard's quote, which was originally published in his "Selected Writings" in 1988."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Auster, Paul. 1987. New York Trilogy., London: Faber and Faber.
• Baudrillard, Jean. 1988. Selected Writings, Cambridge: Polity.
• Baudrillard, Jean. 1994. The Illusion Of The End. Oxford: Polity.
• Coupland, Douglas. 2004. Generation X, London: Abacus.
• Ellis, Bret Easton. 1991. American Psycho, New York: Random House.

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