“[…] it is the ‘heated debate’ (6) arising from the X-ers’ rejection of the boomer ethos that she seeks to explore.[…] Opting Out remains an informed analysis of how cult fiction has helped forge the US’s two major postwar generations.”– Edward Jackson, in Journal of American Studies 48 (2014)

• AcknowledgementsIntroductionOpting Out as a Modern Paradigm: Generations, Deviance and Cult FictionGenerational Identity: Origins, Formation and ImpactDeviance: Definitions, Reactions and ImplicationsCult Fiction: Writing from the MarginsThe Generational Constellation in Post-War America: A Brief OverviewDeviance in Cult Fiction of the 1950s and 1960sThe Road Out: Deviance in Jack Kerouac’s On the RoadAn Unlocked Window: Deviance in Ken Kesey’s One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest“Edge City”: Deviance in Tom Wolfe’s The Electric Kool-Aid Acid TestDeviance in Cult Fiction of the 1980s and 1990s“Disappear Here”: Deviance in Bret Easton Ellis’ Less Than Zero“The Lunar Side of the Fence”: Deviance in Douglas Coupland’s Generation X“Hitting Bottom”: Deviance in Chuck Palahniuk’s Fight ClubConclusion: Opting Out and America’s Social ImaginaryBibliographyIndex