The Rules of Attraction (novel)

The Rules of Attraction (novel)
Name	The Rules of Attraction
Author	Bret Easton Ellis
Country	United States
Language	English
Genre	Campus novel, Satire
Publisher	Simon & Schuster
Pub date	1987
Media type	Print (hardcover & paperback)
Pages	256
Isbn	0-671-52607-4
Preceded by	Less Than Zero
Followed by	American Psycho

The Rules of Attraction (novel). It is a 1987 campus novel by American author Bret Easton Ellis, set at a liberal arts college in New England during the 1980s. The narrative employs a fragmented, rotating first-person perspective to chronicle the aimless and hedonistic lives of its student characters, focusing on a destructive love triangle. A defining work of the Literary Brat Pack, the novel is noted for its unflinching depiction of Generation X apathy, sexual promiscuity, and drug abuse.

Plot summary

The plot unfolds at the fictional Camden College, a thinly-veiled analogue to Bennington College, where Ellis was a student. The story lacks a traditional linear narrative, instead presenting a collage of vignettes from numerous characters. Central to the fragmented story is a chaotic love triangle between Sean Bateman, a cynical drug dealer; Lauren Hynde, a romantic yet disillusioned student; and Paul Denton, a bisexual young man infatuated with Sean. Key events include a disastrous road trip to New York City, a drug-fueled party at a professor's house, and the planning of a massive, ultimately canceled, party called "The End of the World." The narrative circles around miscommunications, unrequited passions, and a general atmosphere of anomie, concluding without definitive resolution for its characters.

Characters

The novel features a large ensemble of interconnected students and faculty at Camden College. Sean Bateman is the manipulative, amoral protagonist, whose older brother is the infamous Patrick Bateman of Ellis's later novel, American Psycho. Lauren Hynde pines for a former lover who has traveled to Europe while engaging in self-destructive relationships. Paul Denton provides a more vulnerable perspective, grappling with his sexuality and unreciprocated feelings for Sean. Other significant figures include Mitchell Anderson, a depressed student; Victor Johnson, Lauren's elusive ex-boyfriend whose travels are documented in postcards; and various professors like Professor Reynolds, whose personal life blurs with his students'. Many characters from Ellis's debut, Less Than Zero, such as Clay and Blair, make crossover appearances.

Themes and analysis

The novel is a sharp satire of 1980s collegiate life and the perceived emptiness of the Me Generation. Central themes include the commodification of relationships and emotional detachment, where sex and intimacy are treated as transactional. It explores profound alienation and the failure of communication, exemplified by the characters' constant misinterpretation of each other's motives and feelings. The work critiques postmodern identity and the performative nature of self within a culture saturated by consumerism and popular culture. Analysis often places the novel within the context of blank fiction, examining its depiction of a generation adrift, lacking political conviction or moral compass in the shadow of events like the Vietnam War and during the era of Ronald Reagan.

Style and structure

Ellis employs a distinctive, fragmented narrative style, eschewing a single omniscient narrator. The story is told through a rapid rotation of first-person monologues from a wide array of characters, often presenting contradictory accounts of the same events. This technique creates a sense of subjective reality and collective disillusionment. The prose is deliberately flat and affectless, mirroring the characters' emotional states, and is interspersed with elements like course syllabi, party flyers, and unanswered letters. This collage effect reinforces the novel's themes of fractured communication and the incoherence of experience, aligning it with modernist experiments by authors like William Faulkner and Virginia Woolf, albeit with a minimalist, postmodern sensibility.

Publication history

The novel was published in 1987 by Simon & Schuster following Ellis's successful debut with Less Than Zero. Its release solidified Ellis's status as a leading voice of his generation and a central figure in the Literary Brat Pack, a media-defined group that also included Jay McInerney and Tama Janowitz. The book has remained in print for decades and has been issued in numerous paperback editions by publishers like Vintage Contemporaries. Its initial publication coincided with a period of significant cultural focus on youth culture and was part of a broader literary trend critiquing American society in the 1980s.

Critical reception

Initial critical reception was polarized, drawing both acclaim and condemnation. Many reviewers praised Ellis's razor-sharp satire and formal innovation, with critics from The New York Times acknowledging his keen ear for dialogue. However, the novel was also widely criticized for its amoral characters, explicit content, and perceived nihilism. Some commentators dismissed it as a sensationalistic chronicle of depravity. Over time, its critical standing has grown significantly; it is now considered a seminal work of 1980s fiction and an essential document of Generation X. Academic analysis frequently examines its formal structure and its critique of late capitalism, with scholars comparing Ellis's techniques to those of the French New Novel and his thematic concerns to those of Joan Didion.

Adaptations

The novel was adapted into a feature film in 2002, directed by Roger Avary and starring James Van Der Beek, Shannyn Sossamon, and Ian Somerhalder. The film adaptation took significant liberties with the source material, condensing the plot and altering character fates, but retained the fragmented narrative style through innovative editing. A planned prequel film focusing on Victor Johnson's travels in Europe, titled Glamorama, was announced but never produced. The novel's characters and setting also loosely connect to Ellis's wider literary universe, which includes American Psycho and Less Than Zero, creating a shared continuity that has been explored across different media.

Category:1987 American novels Category:American campus novels Category:Novels by Bret Easton Ellis Category:Simon & Schuster books