Publisher responsibility and Bret Easton Ellis. (editorial)

Publisher Responsibility and Bret Easton Ellis The fuss that has erupted over Bret Easton Ellis's American Psycho, its last-minute cancellation by Simon & Schuster and its immediate takeover by Vintage has brought to the surface all sorts of thoughts and emotions we had believed were long buried--along with the hoary notion of the "gentlemanly profession."

Certainly any author has a right to have his work published--and never mind whether or not he or she is a serious artist (remember the Tasteless Jokes books a few years back, which made no possible claim to artistic merit?). The question for a publisher is rather: Do I want to have my name associated with a book like …