ABSTRACT
Buckle your seatbelt: to delve into Chuck Palahniuk’s writing is to enter an unrelenting circus of pain. There will be blood and bruises, guts and gore. Palahniuk unfl inchingly reveals the dark compulsions and actions of characters struggling to fi nd fulfi llment in a postmodern world where the Orwellian power of mass media and the crushing weight of the past make doing so all but impossible. Illuminating “the opposite of the American Dream” (Palahniuk, SF xv), his novels have been categorized as transgressive fi ction, denoting that which purposefully confronts the forbidden and clamors against social constraints.1 Most obviously, Fight Club’s (1996) critique of capitalism and seemingly sensationalistic aggression guarantees its controversial status for ages to come-and David Fincher’s (1999) cinematic translation turned the debut of a new literary voice into a true phenomenon, catapulting the author into legendary status. There have since emerged countless allusions, parodies, spin-offs, and merchandise emblazoned with Fight Club quotations, providing testament to the story’s impact on both American and international pop culture history. Post-Fight Club publications continue to register Palahniuk’s unique brand of literary mayhem: Survivor (1999); Invisible Monsters (1999); Choke: A Novel (2001); Lullaby (2002); Fugitives and Refugees: A Walk in Portland, Oregon (2003); Diary: A Novel (2003); Stranger Than Fiction: True Stories (2004); Haunted: A Novel of Stories (2005); Rant: An Oral Biography of Buster Casey (2007); Snuff (2008); and Pygmy (2009).2 Notoriously saturated with brutal monstrosities, rampant grotesqueries, and edgy humor, his texts invite-almost dare-a response. However, as is often the case with authors whose reputations have grown from the reception of one groundbreaking work, the contemplation of Palahniuk’s writing beyond Fight Club is far less sustained. This practice is perhaps understandable, even practical from a pedagogical standpoint; nevertheless, it promotes an inattention to how Palahniuk has explored a range of modes, reworking and refi ning his vision of individuals laboring to make (or abdicating
responsibility for making) choices within the complex infl uences and contrary impulses of contemporary life. In this respect, our collection proposes broader consideration of the prolifi c Palahniuk as a writer who persistently reimagines textual boundaries and interrogates American cultures in vigorous, important ways.
