ABSTRACT
Bret Easton Ellis's novel American Psycho was published in the UK by
Picador in 19 9 1. The subject of the novel, his third after Less Than Zero
(1986) and The Rules o f Attraction (1988), became infamous. In summary,
it catalogues in frequently banal and occasionally lurid detail the life of
Patrick Bateman, a Wall Street yuppie whose narrative is packed with
the details of designer clothes, modish restaurants, and the torture and
dismemberment of his (mostly) female victims.1 Ellis is an American
writer, but the publishing history analysed here is principally of the UK
publication and reception of his third novel. Nonetheless, it is worth
noting the pre-publication trouble that the book ran into in the US.
