ABSTRACT
Chuck Palahniuk’s novels update the Gothic tradition for a postmodern age2 that seeks perfection in miracle “makeovers” of all kinds. Protagonists of books like Survivor, Lullaby, and Invisible Monsters resemble traditional Gothic heroes and heroines in that they are haunted by the past (both personal and cultural) and beset by traps of all kinds (particularly consumerism). In response to their traumatic experiences, they become paranoid and monstrous, ultimately transgressing the bounds of law, reason, and good taste. Their desperate bids for freedom and control in a suffocating, dehumanizing commodity culture are usually violent and destructive both to themselves and to others, and they are always partial and compromised. Nevertheless, these gestures represent the only prospect for meaningful human agency in the novels.
