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Less Than Zero (novel)
''Less than Zero'' is the debut novel of Bret Easton Ellis, published in 1985. It was his first published effort, released when he was 21 years old, and still a student at Bennington College. The novel was titled after the Elvis Costello song of the same name. Plot summary The novel follows the life of Clay, a rich young college student who has returned to his hometown of Los Angeles, California for winter break circa 1984. Through first-person narration, Clay describes his progressive alienation from the culture around him, loss of faith in his friends, and his meditations on events in his recent past. After reuniting with his ex-girlfriend Blair, and friends like Trent, now a successful model, Clay embarks on a series of drug-fueled nights of partying, during which he has one-night stands with both sexes. While partying, he tries to track down his best friend from high school, Julian, with whom he hasn't spoken in months. In between descriptions of his days and nights, Clay r ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bret Easton Ellis
Bret Easton Ellis (born March 7, 1964) is an American author and screenwriter. Ellis was one of the literary Brat Pack (literary), Brat Pack and is a self-proclaimed satirist whose trademark technique as a writer is the expression of extreme acts and opinions in an affectless style. His novels commonly share recurring characters. When Ellis was 21, his first novel, the controversial bestseller ''Less than Zero (novel), Less than Zero'' (1985), was published by Simon & Schuster. His third novel, ''American Psycho'' (1991), was his most successful. Upon its release the literary establishment widely condemned it as overly violent and Misogyny, misogynistic. Though many petitions to ban the book saw Ellis dropped by Simon & Schuster, the resounding controversy convinced Alfred A. Knopf to release it as a paperback later that year. Ellis's novels have become increasingly metafictional. ''Lunar Park'' (2005), a pseudo-memoir and ghost story, received positive reviews. ''Imperial Bedroo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Prostitution
Prostitution is a type of sex work that involves engaging in sexual activity in exchange for payment. The definition of "sexual activity" varies, and is often defined as an activity requiring physical contact (e.g., sexual intercourse, non-penetrative sex, manual sex, oral sex, etc.) with the customer. The requirement of physical contact also creates the risk of transferring infections. Prostitution is sometimes described as sexual services, commercial sex or, colloquially, hooking. It is sometimes referred to euphemistically as "the world's oldest profession" in the English-speaking world. A person who works in the field is usually called a prostitute or '' sex worker'', but other words, such as hooker and whore, are sometimes used pejoratively to refer to those who work in prostitution. The majority of prostitutes are female and have male clients. Prostitution occurs in a variety of forms, and its legal status varies from country to country (sometimes from region ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Vice (magazine)
''Vice'' (stylized in all caps) is a Canadian-American magazine focused on lifestyle, arts, culture, and news/politics. It was founded in 1994 in Montreal as an alternative punk magazine, and its founders later launched the youth media company Vice Media, which consists of divisions including the printed magazine as well as a website, broadcast news unit, a film production company, a record label, and a publishing imprint. As of February 2015, the magazine's editor-in-chief is Ellis Jones. On 15 May 2023, Vice Media formally filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, as part of a possible sale to a consortium of lenders including Fortress Investment Group, which will, alongside Soros Fund Management and Monroe Capital, invest $225 million as a credit bid for nearly all of its assets. In February 2024, CEO Bruce Dixon announced additional layoffs and that the website Vice.com will no longer publish content. The print magazine returned in September 2024. History The precursor to ''Vice ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Minimalism
In visual arts, music, and other media, minimalism is an art movement that began in the post-war era in western art. The movement is often interpreted as a reaction to abstract expressionism and modernism; it anticipated contemporary post-minimal art practices, which extend or reflect on minimalism's original objectives. Minimalism's key objectives were to strip away conventional characterizations of art by bringing the importance of the object or the experience a viewer has for the object with minimal mediation from the artist. Prominent artists associated with minimalism include Donald Judd, Agnes Martin, Dan Flavin, Carl Andre, Robert Morris, Anne Truitt, and Frank Stella. Minimalism in music often features repetition and gradual variation, such as the works of La Monte Young, Terry Riley, Steve Reich, Philip Glass, Julius Eastman, and John Adams. The term has also been used to describe the plays and novels of Samuel Beckett, the films of Robert Bresson, the stori ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Joe McGinniss
Joseph Ralph McGinniss Sr. (December 9, 1942 – March 10, 2014) was an American non-fiction writer and novelist. He was the author of twelve books. McGinniss first came to prominence with the best-selling '' The Selling of the President 1968'' which described the marketing of then-presidential candidate Richard Nixon. He is popularly known for his trilogy of bestselling true crime books—'' Fatal Vision'', ''Blind Faith'' and '' Cruel Doubt''—which were adapted into TV miniseries in the 1980s and 90s. His last book was ''The Rogue: Searching for the Real Sarah Palin'', an account of Sarah Palin, the former governor of Alaska who was the 2008 Republican vice-presidential nominee. Early life and education McGinniss was born in Manhattan, the only child of travel agent Joseph A. McGinniss and Mary (née Leonard), a secretary at CBS. He was raised in Forest Hills, Queens, and Rye, New York. In his youth he was given a chance to pick a middle name and chose Ralph, after the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Creative Writing
Creative writing is any writing that goes beyond the boundaries of normal professional, journalistic, academic, or technical forms of literature, typically identified by an emphasis on craft and technique, such as narrative structure, character development, literary tropes, genre, and poetics. Both fictional and non-fictional works fall into this category, including such forms as novels, biographies, short stories, poems, and even some forms of journalism. In academic settings, creative writing is typically separated into fiction and poetry classes, with a focus on writing in an original style, as opposed to imitating pre-existing genres such as crime or horror. Writing for the screen and stage—screenwriting and playwriting—are often taught separately, but fit under the creative writing category as well. Definition Creative writing can technically be considered any writing of original composition. In this sense, creative writing is a more contemporary and pro ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Juvenilia
Juvenilia are literary, musical or artistic works produced by authors during their youth. Written juvenilia, if published at all, usually appear as retrospective publications, some time after the author has become well known for later works. Background The term was first recorded in 1622 in George Wither's poetry collection ''Ivvenilia''. Later, other notable poets, such as John Dryden and Alfred, Lord Tennyson, came to use the term for collections of their early poetry. The stories and poems which novelist Jane Austen wrote before the age of eighteen are called her ''Juvenilia''. Exceptions to retrospective publication include Leigh Hunt's collection ''Juvenilia'', first published when he was still in his teens; and Lord Byron George Gordon Byron, 6th Baron Byron (22 January 1788 – 19 April 1824) was an English poet. He is one of the major figures of the Romantic movement, and is regarded as being among the greatest poets of the United Kingdom. Among his best-kno ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Roman à Clef
A ''roman à clef'' ( ; ; ) is a novel about real-life events that is overlaid with a façade of fiction. The fictitious names in the novel represent real people and the "key" is the relationship between the non-fiction and the fiction. This metaphorical key may be produced separately—typically as an explicit guide to the text by the author—or implied, through the use of epigraphs or other literary techniques. Madeleine de Scudéry created the ''roman à clef'' in the 17th century to provide a forum for her thinly veiled fiction featuring political and public figures. An author might choose the ''roman à clef'' as a means of satire, of writing about controversial topics, reporting inside information on scandals without giving rise to charges of libel, the opportunity to turn the tale the way the author would like it to have gone, the opportunity to portray autobiographical experiences without having to expose the author as the subject, avoiding incrimination that could ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
American Gigolo
''American Gigolo'' is a 1980 American neo-noir crime drama film written and directed by Paul Schrader, and starring Richard Gere and Lauren Hutton. It tells the story of a high-priced escort in Los Angeles (Gere) who becomes romantically involved with a prominent politician's wife (Hutton), while simultaneously becoming the prime suspect in a murder case. The film established Gere as a leading man, and was one of the first mainstream Hollywood films to include frontal male nudity from its main star. It is also notable for its Golden Globe–nominated musical score, composed by Giorgio Moroder, and number-one single " Call Me" by Blondie. Schrader considers it one of four similar films, which he calls "double bookends": '' Taxi Driver'', bookended by '' Light Sleeper'', and ''American Gigolo'' bookended by '' The Walker''. Plot Julian Kay is a male escort in Los Angeles whose clientele are upper-class women. His job supports and requires an expensive taste in cars and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Film Noir
Film noir (; ) is a style of Cinema of the United States, Hollywood Crime film, crime dramas that emphasizes cynicism (contemporary), cynical attitudes and motivations. The 1940s and 1950s are generally regarded as the "classic period" of American film noir. Film noir of this era is associated with a low-key lighting, low-key, black-and-white visual style that has roots in German expressionist cinematography. Many of the prototypical stories and attitudes expressed in classic noir derive from the hardboiled school of crime fiction that emerged in the United States during the Great Depression, known as noir fiction. The term ''film noir'', French for "black film" (literal) or "dark film" (closer meaning), was first applied to Hollywood films by French critic Nino Frank in 1946, but was unrecognized by most American film industry professionals of that era. Frank is believed to have been inspired by the French literary publishing imprint Série noire, founded in 1945. Cinema hist ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Joan Didion
Joan Didion (; December 5, 1934 – December 23, 2021) was an American writer and journalist. She is considered one of the pioneers of New Journalism, along with Gay Talese, Truman Capote, Norman Mailer, Hunter S. Thompson, and Tom Wolfe. Didion's career began in the 1950s after she won an essay contest sponsored by ''Vogue (magazine), Vogue'' magazine. She went on to publish essays in ''The Saturday Evening Post'', ''National Review'', ''Life (magazine), Life'', ''Esquire (magazine), Esquire'', ''The New York Review of Books'', and ''The New Yorker''. Her writing during the 1960s through the late 1970s engaged audiences in the realities of the counterculture of the 1960s, the Hollywood lifestyle, and the history and culture of California. Didion's political writing in the 1980s and 1990s concentrated on political rhetoric and Latin America–United States relations, the United States's foreign policy in Latin America. In 1991, she wrote the earliest mainstream media article to s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
New Hampshire
New Hampshire ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Gulf of Maine to the east, and the Canadian province of Quebec to the north. Of the List of states and territories of the United States, 50 U.S. states, New Hampshire is the List of U.S. states and territories by area, seventh-smallest by land area and the List of U.S. states and territories by population, tenth-least populous, with a population of 1,377,529 residents as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. Concord, New Hampshire, Concord is the List of capitals in the United States, state capital and Manchester, New Hampshire, Manchester is the List of municipalities in New Hampshire, most populous city. New Hampshire's List of U.S. state mottos, motto, "Live Free or Die", reflects its role in the American Revolutionary War; its state nickname, nickname, "The Granite State", refers to its ext ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
