Postmodern Irony in Bret Easton Ellis’s American Psycho

Abstract

This paper analyses Bret Easton Ellis’s novel American Psycho to see how irony is used to present alternative meanings. It also aims to determine whether the irony that is used in the novel is postmodern. This thesis is predominantly structured around the works of two postmodern theorists - Linda Hutcheon and Fredric Jameson, specifically Hutcheon’s theories on traditional and postmodern irony, and Jameson’s critique of pastiche. The theoretical section gives an overview of postmodernism and irony. It also introduces the two main terms used in the analysis. In the empirical section, examples from the text are used to show how irony and pastiche are used in the narrative and to discuss whether or not the irony present in the text is postmodern. The thesis ends with a conclusion about the findings.