The Life and Works of Bret Easton Ellis Quiz

Answer: Bennington College

Bennington College, located in Bennington, VT, maintains an undergraduate enrollment of only 571 students. Ellis fictionalized the school as "Camden College" in his novel "The Rules of Attraction" (1987).

Answer: Los Angeles

Ellis was born and raised in the San Fernando Valley, California. He often encompassed themes of moral depravity, excessive consumer culture and suburban wasteland into his works. His characters (particularly in the earlier "Less Than Zero" and "The Informers) are filthy rich, perfectly tanned, jaded LA suburban youth.

To quote a recent Q and A session from Ellis' official website: "I still live part of the year in Los Angeles and am seriously contemplating moving there permanently. In its own way, LA is all suburban."

Answer: "The Informers"

"The Informers" (1994) is divided into thirteen chapters, each chapter serving as a different story. All of the stories are set in Ellis' childhood home of Los Angeles.

"Lunar Park" and "Glamorama" are novels by Ellis; "Choke" is a novel by fellow Gen-X author Chuck Palahniuk.

Answer: his father

Ellis often claimed that Patrick Bateman was based on his father, Robert Ellis, who passed away in 1992.

Ellis, speaking about his father in an interview: "To a certain degree I've worked out a lot of issues I had with him, but I think a residue of anger and defeat will always exist."

Answer: 2

Ellis clarified his family situation in a 2001 interview with Richard Wang (Index Magazine): "I have two younger sisters, and we're a standard Southern California family: mom, dad, two sisters, dog, pool, divorce, Valium addiction, convertibles, weekends in Palm Springs. Kind of a typical upper-middle class, Southern California childhood. Not too different from any of my friends."

Answer: 208 pages

Simon and Schuster's editing team somehow was able to abandon over 300 pages of "Less Than Zero". Apparently, the editing job worked, as the novel sold 50,000 copies in its first year and eventually made its way onto the New York Times Best Seller List.

The success of "Less Than Zero" catapulated Ellis into the mainstream, and since its publication in 1985, he has been considered a major voice of Generation X literature.

Answer: The Parents

Ellis played keyboards for "The Parents" and originally intended on pursuing a music degree from Bennington. He eventually shifted his focus to creative writing, however his favorite bands and songs often play significant roles in pivotal scenes from his fiction.

Answer: Lunar Park

"Lunar Park" (2005) was a finalist nominee for the World Fantasy Awards. It was also the first book where Ellis used the past tense narrative.

"Lunar Park" is a supernatural horror story through and through, and Ellis credits Stephen King and his love of comic books for much of the inspiration for this eerie ghost tale.

Answer: Nick McDonell

Nick McDonell came along much later than the other three, and isn't considered part of Generation-X. When McDonell released his novel "Twelve" in 2002, many critics noticed the blatant similarities to the works of the Literary Brat Pack.

Answer: American Psycho

"American Psycho" (1991) has reached an astounding number of readers and has received international acclaim, despite its ruthless depictions of violence and sex.

Feminist Tara Baxter expressed her feelings towards the novel and the man behind the work on 21 March 1991: "There are better ways of taking care of Bret Easton Ellis than just censoring him. I would much prefer to see him skinned alive, a rat put up his rectum, and his genitals cut off and fried in a frying pan, in front of -- not only a live audience - but a video camera as well. These videos can be sold as "art" and "free expression" and could be available at every video outlet, library, liquor, and convenience store in the world. We can profit off of Ellis' terror and pain, just as he and bookstores are profiting off of the rape, torture, and mutilation of women."