P
Palahniuk, Chuck
Identification American author
Born February 21, 1962; Pasco, Washington
Palahniuk gained recognition and a cult following with
the publication and film adaptation ofFight Club(1996)
in the 1990’s.
Chuck Palahniuk’sFight Club, published in 1996,
won both the 1997 Pacific Northwest Booksellers As-
sociation Award and the 1997 Oregon Book Award
for Best Novel. However,Fight Club’s and Palahniuk’s
fame would truly skyrocket after the release of David
Fincher’s 1999 film adaptation starring Brad Pitt
and Edward Norton.Fight Clubstruck a chord with
audiences for its critique of consumerism and the
state of masculinity in America and for its highly real-
istic depiction of violence, for which it was some-
times criticized. “Fight Club” refers to a network of
secret, underground fighting rings that serve as radi-
cal psychotherapy for the disconnected males of
Palahniuk’s world.
Palahniuk led a varied life before becoming a
published author, attending the University of Ore-
gon and then working as a journalist for a local pa-
per after graduation. Unsatisfied with journalism,
Palahniuk worked as a diesel mechanic and techni-
cal writer and volunteered to help care for termi-
nally ill patients, bringing them to and from the type
of support group meetings that figure heavily in
Fight Club. In his mid-thirties, Palahniuk began at-
tending fiction-writing workshops. The first novel he
submitted for publication was Invisible Monsters,
which was rejected by publishers as too disturbing.
He wroteFight Clubnext, intending to shock the
publishers even more, but it was accepted for publi-
cation.
AfterFight Club, Palahniuk pennedSurvivor, pub-
lished in February, 1999, which relates the story of
Tender Branson, the last member of a suicide cult,
and deals with themes such as identity, free will, com-
mercialism, consumerism, and nihilism, themes that
recur in much of Palahniuk’s work. In September of
1999,Invisible Monsterswas finally published. Per-
haps Palahniuk’s most disturbing work to hit readers
up to that point, it tells the story of Brandy Alexan-
der’s search for a new future. She is a formerly beau-
tiful, now disfigured young model who has lost the
ability to speak. Palahniuk revisits familiar themes in
Invisible Monsters, but under more shocking circum-
stances.
Palahniuk is sometimes criticized for the absur-
dity of the situations and characters in his novels;
critics allege that he is interested in nothing
more than shock value and that his characters are
treated ironically and humorously rather than
with true humanity. Palahniuk has refuted this view-
point.
Impact Chuck Palahniuk’s fiction pushed the
boundaries of popular fiction even in a decade when
everything seemed acceptable, and he captured the
angst of disillusioned young men with his vision of
Fight Club. His unconventional rise to success as a
writer influenced many other writers, and his Web
site has maintained a large community of writers
since its inception in 1999.
Further Reading
Grayson, Eric M., ed. “Special Issue: The Fiction of
Chuck Palahniuk.”Stirrings Still: The International
Journal of Existential Literature2, no. 2 (Fall/Win-
ter, 2005).
Palahniuk, Chuck.Fight Club. New York: W. W. Nor-
ton, 1996.
Alan HaslamSee also Film in the United States; Literature in
the United States; Pitt, Brad.