Censorship and Other Psychotic Stuff

This post comes from two ideas in my brain, I suppose. First of all it relates to the most recent book in my ‘read’ (past tense) collection: American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis. I’ve wanted to read this book for a long time and, obviously, I finally have. A lot of people, I think, were a bit disturbed to hear about me reading this. And to be honest, even though it is a bit of social commentary, satire, and dark comedy, it’s not for the faint of heart. Although the book doesn’t get violent right away. It’s more of a gradual journey that you feel you’re slipping down. The main character, Patrick Bateman, does reveal past ‘indiscretions’ from earlier times in his life, but you (at least I) really get the feeling that his descent is gradual while getting more progressive as the book nears the end. As though his behaviour gets worse and worse the more he is enveloped in his own culture. The more his society gives to him, the more limiting these possessions and options actually become – and he totally loses touch with reality; he becomes increasingly psychotic.

Obviously the author is ‘saying’ something about 80s American culture – and it definitely still resonates. But, at the same time, I couldn’t help feel that the book was ‘saying’ something about me. Not in a psychotic way, like the book was actually talking to me so fear not. Naturally I felt a bit disturbed at some of the things Bateman does. But mostly, I felt desensitised to it all and even intrigued. Yeah, it made me cringe to imagine these things happening to me, or to anyone really. But I felt worse for the animals that were mutilated. Obviously, it’s just a book and it’s natural for me to detach myself from these events. But, I guess, I am wondering how most people feel when reading this book, what their reactions are....

I was recently talking with a friend of mine about it and he says he thinks, at the end, that Bateman never did any of it. Basically that it was all a delusion. I can see his point, especially when Harold Carnes claims to have had dinner with Paul Owen, one of Bateman’s ‘victims’. But, maybe Carnes just confused someone else for Owen, like everyone does to everyone else in the book. Still, the point is totally valid, and I can see it from that angle as well...even though I don’t necessarily believe it. I will just have to read the book again and see what I think a second time round. What are your thoughts?

Feel free to comment on the movie adaptation as well

The second idea in my brain is something I wanted to write about ages ago, but never did...The Banned Books exhibit at the National Library of Scotland, which I went to over the summer. The reason I think of this at the same time as American Psycho is because the exhibit talked about how in Australia, American Psycho is only sold shrink-wrapped to people over 18. How do you feel about such book censorship? I find it innately wrong, but then again I was reading Stephen King when I was like 10, and I’ve always read what I wanted to (thanks mom and dad for letting me!!). The exhibition was very cool, and although it is not on anymore, you can read about it here: http://www.nls.uk/exhibitions/banned-books. The exhibition included lots of other cool books, including A Clockwork Orange, one of my favourite books ever (even though I’ve only read the American version – lame I know). This finally (well, not finally...my thoughts keep going and going, but I realise this post is wearing on) brings to mind the new, censored version of Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, in which all ‘n’ words are censored. If you haven’t heard of this, read about it here: http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/jan/05/huckleberry-finn-edition-censors-n-word. This is ridiculous, and I think it needs its own future post, so stay tuned.