Editing American Psycho (section)

==Reception==
Writing for ''[[The New York Times]]'', [[Roger Rosenblatt]] quipped, "''American Psycho'' is the journal [[Dorian Gray]] would have written had he been a high school sophomore. But that is unfair to sophomores", and he approved of its canceled publication.<ref name="rosenblatt19901216">{{Cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1990/12/16/books/snuff-this-book-will-bret-easton-ellis-get-away-with-murder.html |title=Snuff This Book! Will Bret Easton Ellis Get Away With Murder? |last=Rosenblatt |first=Roger |author-link=Roger Rosenblatt|date=December 16, 1990 |work=[[The New York Times]] |access-date=April 17, 2019 |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> Ellis received numerous death threats and hate mail after the publication of ''American Psycho''.<ref name="messier">{{cite journal
 | last = Messier
 | first = Vartan
 | year = 2005
 | title = Canons of Transgression: Shock, Scandal, and Subversion from Matthew Lewis's ''The Monk'' to Bret Easton Ellis's ''American Psycho''
 | journal = Dissertation Abstracts International
 | volume = 43
 | issue = 4
 | pages = 1085 ff
 | url = http://grad.uprm.edu/tesis/messiervartan.pdf
 | access-date = April 16, 2006
| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20100624124729/http://grad.uprm.edu/tesis/messiervartan.pdf
 | archive-date = June 24, 2010
| url-status = dead}} (University of Puerto Rico, Mayaguez). Chapter ''Pornography and Violence: The Dialectics of Transgression in Bret Easton Ellis's American Psycho'' provides an in-depth analysis of the novel.</ref><ref>{{IMDb name|0254735|Bret Easton Ellis}}</ref> The ''[[Los Angeles Times]]''{{'}}s review<ref name="bean19910317">{{Cite news |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-03-17-bk-622-story.html |title=SLAYGROUND : AMERICAN PSYCHO By Bret Easton Ellis (Vintage: $11, paper; 399 pp.) |last=Bean |first=Henry |date=March 17, 1991 |work=[[The Los Angeles Times]] |access-date=April 17, 2019 |language=en-US |issn=0458-3035}}</ref>—"the one good review in the national press", he said—resulted in "a three-page letter section of all these people canceling their subscriptions".

In the United States, the book was named the 53rd most banned and challenged book from 1990–1999 by the American Library Association.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Office of Intellectual Freedom|date=March 26, 2013|title=100 most frequently challenged books: 1990-1999|url=https://www.ala.org/advocacy/bbooks/frequentlychallengedbooks/decade1999|access-date=June 15, 2021|website=American Library Association|language=en}}</ref>

In Germany, the book was deemed "harmful to minors" and its sales and marketing severely restricted from 1995 to 2000.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Salvatierra |first=Pablo |date=2016-11-01 |title=Banned Books: American Psycho |url=https://www.slamedia.org/topmenu/american-psycho-review/ |access-date=2025-03-08 |website=www.slamedia.org}}</ref>

In Australia, the book is sold shrink-wrapped and is classified "R18" under national censorship legislation (i.e., the book may not be sold to those under 18 years of age). Along with other Category 1 publications, its sale is theoretically banned in the state of [[Queensland]], and it may only be purchased shrink-wrapped.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-07-17/american-psycho-removed-from-adelaide-bookshelves/6628846|title=Police ask for new edition of American Psycho to be removed from Adelaide bookshelves|work=ABC News|date=July 17, 2015}}</ref> In [[Brisbane]], the novel is available to those over 18 from all public libraries and can still be ordered and purchased (shrink-wrapped) from many book stores despite this prohibition.<ref name="Classification.gov.au">[https://routinebias.com/routines/patrick-bateman-morning-routine/] Patrick Bateman’s Morning Routine from Routine Bias</ref> Ellis has commented on this: "I think it's adorable. I think it's cute. I love it".<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UD1gb4NXszA | archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211118/UD1gb4NXszA | archive-date=November 18, 2021 | url-status=live | title=Bret Easton Ellis Slams Self-Censorship Among Artists | date=October 29, 2010 | publisher=YouTube | access-date=February 15, 2012}}{{cbignore}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://fora.tv/2010/08/07/American_Psycho_Author_Bret_Easton_Ellis_In_Conversation |title=American Psycho Author Bret Easton Ellis: In Conversation |publisher=FORA.tv |access-date=February 15, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111016142115/http://fora.tv/2010/08/07/American_Psycho_Author_Bret_Easton_Ellis_In_Conversation |archive-date=October 16, 2011 |url-status=usurped}}</ref> In New Zealand, the Government's [[Office of Film and Literature Classification (New Zealand)|Office of Film & Literature Classification]] has rated the book as R18 (i.e., the book may not be sold or lent in libraries to those under 18 years of age). It is generally sold [[shrink wrap]]ped in bookstores.<ref>{{cite web|first=Domagoj|last=Valjak|url=https://www.thevintagenews.com/2017/03/08/bret-easton-ellis-novel-american-psycho-is-sold-shrink-wrapped-in-australian-bookstores-to-prevent-minors-from-reading-it/?safari=1|title=Bret Easton Ellis's novel "American Psycho" is sold shrink-wrapped in Australian bookstores to prevent minors from reading it|website=The Vintage News|date=March 8, 2017|accessdate=January 25, 2022}}</ref>

Feminist activist [[Gloria Steinem]] was among those opposed to Ellis's book because of its portrayal of violence toward women.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Venant|first1=Elizabeth|title=An 'American Psycho' Drama: Books: The flap surrounding Bret Easton Ellis's third novel flares again. NOW is seeking a boycott of his new publisher. Other observers raise questions of censorship.|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1990-12-11-vw-6308-story.html|access-date=October 23, 2015|work=[[The Los Angeles Times]]|date=December 11, 1990}}</ref> Coincidentally, Steinem is the stepmother of [[Christian Bale]], who played Bateman in the film. This coincidence is mentioned in Ellis's mock memoir ''[[Lunar Park]]''.

[[Phil Collins]], whose solo career is referenced in the book, recalled: "I didn't read it. At the time, I just thought, 'That's all we need: glorifying all this crap. I'm not interested'. Then the film came out, and I thought it was very funny".<ref>{{cite journal|first= Terri |last= White |title= Cash for questions |journal= [[Q (magazine)|Q]] |date= December 2014 |page= 33}}</ref>

=== Connections to real-life crimes ===
A copy was found in possession of Wade Frankum, perpetrator of the 1991 [[Strathfield massacre]] in Sydney, Australia. It was suggested that the novel had inspired Frankum.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/real-life/true-stories/reliving-an-australian-massacre-only-a-few-people-seem-to-remember/news-story/646bc84c1c317654209d116eb7664ba7 |title=Reliving an Australian massacre only a few people seem to remember|website=News.com.au|access-date=May 29, 2022}}</ref>

During the trial of Canadian serial killer [[Paul Bernardo]], a copy was discovered in Bernardo's bedroom. The ''[[Toronto Sun]]'' reported that Bernardo "read it as his 'bible{{'"}},<ref name="riskyterritory">{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2000/04/09/movies/film-the-risky-territory-of-american-psycho.html|title=FILM; The Risky Territory Of 'American Psycho'|date=April 9, 2000|first=Mary|last=Harron|author-link=Mary Harron|access-date=April 14, 2018|newspaper=[[The New York Times]]}}</ref><ref name="Cairns">{{cite news | url=http://www.thefreeradical.ca/copycatCrimes/lifeImitatesArtInBernardoBible.html | work=[[The Toronto Sun]] | first=Alan | last=Cairns | title=Life imitates 'art' in Bernardo 'bible' | date=September 1, 1995 | access-date=December 28, 2018 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120128202826/http://www.thefreeradical.ca/copycatCrimes/lifeImitatesArtInBernardoBible.html | archive-date=January 28, 2012 | url-status=dead}}</ref> though it turned out it actually belonged to his wife and accomplice [[Karla Homolka]]; it is unlikely Bernardo ever read it.<ref name="riskyterritory" />

During the [[Duke lacrosse case]], a team member named Ryan McFayden sent a profane email to several of his teammates alleging he was going to kill and skin some strippers. The administrators asserted the email was an imitation of Bateman. McFayden subsequently received numerous death threats.<ref>Parrish, R. B. (2009) ''The Duke Lacrosse Case: A Documentary History and Analysis of the Modern Scottsboro'', pp. 159-61; {{ISBN|1-4392-3590-2}}.</ref>