Understanding Chuck Palahniuk

Understanding Chuck Palahniuk
Author: Douglas Keesey
Publisher: Univ of South Carolina Press
Total Pages: 153
Release: 2016-09-30
Genre: Literary Criticism
ISBN: 1611176980


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An introduction to the fictions of the Fight Club author, who is both loved and loathed Ever since his first novel, Fight Club, was made into a cult film by David Fincher, Chuck Palahniuk has been a consistent presence on the New York Times best-seller list. A target of critics but a fan favorite, Palahniuk has been loathed and loved in equal measure for his dark humor, edgy topics, and confrontational writing style. In close readings of Fight Club and the thirteen novels that this controversial author has published since, Douglas Keesey argues that Palahniuk is much more than a "shock jock" engaged in mere sensationalism. His visceral depictions of sex and violence have social, psychological, and religious significance. Keesey takes issue with reviewers who accuse Palahniuk of being an angry nihilist and a misanthrope, showing instead that he is really a romantic at heart and a believer in community. In this first comprehensive introduction to Palahniuk's fiction, Keesey reveals how this writer's outrageous narratives are actually rooted in his own personal experiences, how his seemingly unprecedented works are part of the American literary tradition of protagonists in search of an identity, and how his negative energy is really social satire directed at specific ills that he diagnoses and wishes to cure. After tracing the influence of his working-class background, his journalistic education, and his training as a "minimalist" writer, Understanding Chuck Palahniuk exposes connections between the writer's novels by grouping them thematically: the struggle for identity (Fight Club, Invisible Monsters, Survivor, Choke); the horror trilogy (Lullaby, Diary, Haunted); teen terrors (Rant, Pygmy); porn bodies and romantic myths (Snuff, Tell-All, Beautiful You); and a decidedly unorthodox revision of Dante's Divine Comedy (Damned, Doomed). Drawing on numerous author interviews and written in an engaging and accessible style, Understanding Chuck Palahniuk should appeal to scholars, students, and fans alike.


Understanding Chuck Palahniuk
Language: en
Pages: 153
Authors: Douglas Keesey
Categories: Literary Criticism
Type: BOOK - Published: 2016-09-30 - Publisher: Univ of South Carolina Press

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An introduction to the fictions of the Fight Club author, who is both loved and loathed Ever since his first novel, Fight Club, was made into a cult film by Dav
Tell-All
Language: en
Pages: 191
Authors: Chuck Palahniuk
Categories: Fiction
Type: BOOK - Published: 2011-02-15 - Publisher: Random House

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'Every word he's written about me is a lie including "and" and "the"...' For decades Hazie Coogan has tended to the outsized needs of Katherine 'Miss Kathie' Ke
Rant
Language: en
Pages: 338
Authors: Chuck Palahniuk
Categories: Fiction
Type: BOOK - Published: 2008-05-06 - Publisher: Anchor

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Buster “Rant” Casey just may be the most efficient serial killer of our time. A high school rebel, Rant Casey escapes from his small town home for the big c
Damned
Language: en
Pages: 211
Authors: Chuck Palahniuk
Categories: Fiction
Type: BOOK - Published: 2011-10-18 - Publisher: Doubleday Canada

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Think adolescence is hell? You have no idea... Welcome to Dante's Inferno, by way of The Breakfast Club, from the mind of American fiction's most brilliant trou
Consider This
Language: en
Pages: 256
Authors: Chuck Palahniuk
Categories: Language Arts & Disciplines
Type: BOOK - Published: 2020-01-07 - Publisher: Grand Central Publishing

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Renowned, bestselling novelist Chuck Palahniuk takes us behind the scenes of the writing life, with postcards from decades on the road and incredible examinatio