Bret Easton Ellis is finally getting over himself, said Nelly Kaprièlan in Vogue Hommes International. The onetime paragon of the literary world’s 1980s “brat pack” says he was, until about a year ago, “a prisoner of my own massive ego.” But Ellis has learned “not to relate absolutely everything to me,” and the change has been calming. It was “very painful, ” he admits, to realize that being an “icon” didn’t guarantee that the people he cared about would treat him well. But accepting that “people are neither horrible nor marvelous; they’re just what they are” has allowed him to reduce the drama in his life. “Perhaps it’s more boring to live like that,” he says, “but that’s how things are.”
Ellis has been working for the past three years on a sequel to his 1985 novel, Less Than Zero. The longtime New Yorker moved back to Los Angeles to start the project because, he says, L.A. is “the most perfect city for addressing a symptom that’s so now: narcissism.”
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
Join more than 350,000 subscribers and keep yourself informed with a selection of The Week’s most interesting, enlightening and entertaining stories - plus daily puzzles.
Join more than 350,000 subscribers and keep yourself informed with a selection of The Week’s most interesting, enlightening and entertaining stories - plus daily puzzles.