Elizabeth Jesse Young (6 February 1950 – 18 March 2001[1]) was a London-based literary critic and author, who wrote principally on cult writers for a range of British newspapers and magazines.
In particular she championed transgressive fiction, for which she received some criticism in the press, not least for her defence of A. M. Homes' The End of Alice, which dealt with themes of paedophilia from what was seen as an uncomfortably neutral perspective.
Young was a champion for the US cult literary scene, with authors such as Bret Easton Ellis, Dennis Cooper and A. M. Homes receiving regular praise in her reviews.
In 1992, she and Graham Cavaney published Shopping in Space: Essays on American 'Blank Generation' Fiction (Serpent's Tail), which dealt extensively with the US literary underground, from Joel Rose, David Wojnarowicz, Dennis Cooper, Catherine Texier, Mary Gaitskill, Poppy Z Brite and exploitation films.
In 2001, Young died from Hepatitis C. Later that year, a selection of her reviews and articles were collated in a volume published by Serpent's Tail, Pandora's Handbag: Adventures in the Book World[2], for which her friend Will Self penned the introduction.