‘Blank fiction’ is a
term that describes the writing of a generation of contemporary US writers
whose influence started in the 1980’s and is still present today; this sort of
fiction deals with contemporary urban life, violence sex, drugs and
consumerism. Less Than Zero is most definitely
a novel that falls under the category of blank fiction. The main protagonist,
Clay, is a college student who is coming home for Christmas vacation, he
quickly falls back into old habits with friends and into a spiral of parties,
drugs, sex and violence. Emotions dulled and fuelled by drugs and boredom Clay
and his friends are drawn to excesses to jolt them out of their
expensively-maintained ruts: to prostitution and snuff films, to dead bodies in
the street and, ultimately, to sadistic child abuse.
This website offers commentary on
the novel and notes “as a work of fictional documentary, it is a shocking
portrayal of dissolute youth in the Reagan era, and certainly deserves
to be catalogued in the canon of drugs literature”. The depiction of a
disconnected youth is striking within the book, most obviously with Clay,
although surrounded by people he appears to be alone; his parents are separated
and are unable to communicate with him in a meaningful way, he has no
relationship with his sisters whom he cannot tell apart and who think he is
much younger than he is, a girlfriend who he doesn’t love, psychotic friends
and a psychiatrist who is too self-absorbed to help him.
This article offers insight into
the lives of the youth generation depicted in Less Than Zero, “attractive adolescents are the victims [in the
horrors of the world]; in Less Than Zero, they're the monsters” this shows us
that first appearances (designer clothes, makeup and money) mean little when their
lives are so meaningless and lonely that they resort to drugs just to feel
anything.
Sources:
http://medhum.med.nyu.edu/view/13292 - website/ review
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