Nothing like a good segue.

I'd already planned to do two posts today, but I hadn't planned for it to start this way. I'm going to be writing about Bret Easton Ellis' debut novel, Less Than Zero. Having read all of his published words, I feel it's his best work alongside American Psycho. Anyway, on the back cover of my copy of Less Than Zero there's a quote from somebody named Emily Prager.

I've no idea who Emily is, but she says:

"With spare, seamless writing he tells us a tale of collegiate Christmas in LA that makes Jack Kerouac and his beat generation seem like pussies."

Considering I'd just gotten through writing about Kerouac and the supposedly seminal On The Road, I felt like this was a nice way to tie the two posts together. And now, with nothing else to say, comes a ham-handed segue into my next paragraph.

One of the many things that struck me about Less Than Zero the first time I read it was how pared to the bone Ellis' writing was. A lot like Bukowski, he didn't waste much time by using too many adjectives. The language was sharp, direct and almost apathetic, which seems appropriate given the book's overall feel of nihilism. Adjectives are best left at the disposal of romantics like Fitzgerald.

But while Less Than Zero doesn't really qualify as journalism per sé, its language style is somewhat reflective of how journalists are taught to write. So for that reason I found itsort of  relevant to this whole literary journalism caper. I guess in literature if you're not writing as a journalist you can still write like a journalist.

I'll check in again once I'm through with On The Road.

I remember reading an interview with Hunter S. Thompson once, who said he didn't care for it. He described as "overly sentimental romantic bullshit," or words to that effect.

Terrific.