Charles Michael "Chuck" Palahniuk (pronounced /ˈpɑːlənɪk/;^[1] born February 21, 1962) is an American ^ b. English is the de facto language of American government and the sole language spoken at home by 80% of Americans age five and older. Spanish is the second most commonly spoken language transgressional fiction Transgressive fiction is a genre of literature that focuses on characters who feel confined by the norms and expectations of society and who break free of those confines in unusual and/or illicit ways. Because they are rebelling against the basic norms of society, protagonists of transgressional fiction may seem mentally ill, anti-social and/or novelist A novel is a long narrative in literary prose. The genre has historical roots both in the fields of the medieval and early modern romance and in the tradition of the novella. The latter supplied the present generic term in the late 18th century and freelance journalist A freelancer, freelance worker, or freelance is a self-employed person who pursues a profession without a long-term commitment to any particular employer. The term was first used by Sir Walter Scott in Ivanhoe to describe a "medieval mercenary warrior" or "free-lance". It changed to a figurative noun around the 1860s and was. He is best known for the award-winning novel Fight Club Fight Club is a 1996 novel by Chuck Palahniuk. It follows the experiences of an unnamed protagonist struggling with insomnia. Inspired by his doctor's exasperated remark that insomnia is not suffering, he finds relief by impersonating a seriously ill person in several support groups. Then he meets a mysterious man named Tyler Durden and, which was later made into a film Fight Club is a 1999 American film adapted from the 1996 novel of the same name by Chuck Palahniuk. The film was directed by David Fincher and stars Edward Norton, Brad Pitt, and Helena Bonham Carter. Norton plays the unnamed protagonist, an "everyman" who is discontented with his white-collar job in American society. He forms a " directed by David Fincher David Leo Fincher is an American filmmaker and music video director, known for his dark and stylish thriller movies, such as Se7en (1995), The Game (1997), Fight Club (1999), and Zodiac (2007). He received an Academy Award nomination for Best Director for his 2008 film The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. He lives near Vancouver, Washington Vancouver is a city on the north bank of the Columbia River in the U.S. state of Washington and the county seat of Clark County. According to the Washington State Office of Financial Management's estimate in July of 2008, the city has a population of 163,186, making it the fourth largest city in the state. It is part of the Portland-Vancouver.^[2]

Early life

Palahniuk was born in Pasco, Washington Pasco is a city in and the county seat of Franklin County, Washington, United States. He is the son of Carol and Fred Palahniuk, and grew up living in a mobile home in nearby Burbank, Washington with his family. His parents later separated and divorced, often leaving him and his three siblings to live with their grandparents at their cattle ranch in Eastern Washington Eastern Washington is a region of the United States defined as the part of Washington east of the Cascade Mountains. It is notable for, among other things:.^[3]

In his twenties, Palahniuk attended the University of Oregon The University of Oregon is a public, coeducational research university in Eugene, Oregon, United States. The second oldest public university in the state, UO was founded in 1876, and graduated its first class two years later. The University of Oregon is one of 60 members of the Association of American Universities. The Carnegie Foundation's School of Journalism, graduating in 1986. While attending college he worked as an intern for National Public Radio National Public Radio is a privately and publicly funded non-profit membership media organization that serves as a national syndicator to 797 public radio stations in the United States. NPR was created in 1970, following congressional passage of the Public Broadcasting Act of 1967. This act was signed into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson, and member station KLCC in Eugene, Oregon Eugene is the second-largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon and the county seat of Lane County. It is located at the south end of the Willamette Valley, at the confluence of the McKenzie and Willamette rivers, about 50 miles (86 km) east of the Oregon Coast. He moved to Portland Portland is a city located in the Northwestern United States, near the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers in the state of Oregon. As of July 2009, it has an estimated population of 582,130 making it the 29th most populous in the United States. It has been referred to as the most environmentally friendly or "green" city in soon afterwards. After writing for the local newspaper for a short while, he began working for Freightliner as a diesel mechanic, continuing in that job until his writing career took off. During that time, he also wrote manuals on fixing trucks and had a stint as a journalist (a job he did not return to until after he became a successful novelist). After casually attending a free, introductory seminar held by an organization called Landmark Education Landmark Education LLC is a personal training and development company which offers educational programs in approximately 115 locations in more than 20 countries worldwide, including major cities such as London, New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Sydney, and Toronto, Palahniuk quit his job as a journalist in 1988.^[4] Palahniuk did volunteer work for a homeless shelter; later, he also volunteered at a hospice Hospice is a type of care and a philosophy of care which focuses on the palliation of a terminally ill patient's symptoms. These symptoms can be physical, emotional, spiritual or social in nature. The concept of hospice has been evolving since the 11th century. Then, and for centuries thereafter, hospices were places of hospitality for the sick, as an escort; he provided transportation for terminally ill people and brought them to support group meetings. He ceased volunteering upon the death of a patient to whom he had grown attached.^[5]

Palahniuk would also become a member of the rebellious Cacophony Society The Cacophony Society is “a randomly gathered network of free spirits united in the pursuit of experiences beyond the pale of mainstream society.” It was started in 1986 by surviving members of the now defunct Suicide Club of San Francisco in his adulthood. He is a regular participant in their events, including the annual Santa Rampage (a public Christmas Christmas or Christmas Day is a holiday observed mostly on December 25 to commemorate the birth of Jesus, the central figure of Christianity. The date is not known to be the actual birth date of Jesus, and may have initially been chosen to correspond with either the day exactly nine months after some early Christians believed Jesus had been party involving pranks and drunkenness) in Portland. His participation in the Society inspired some of the events in his writings, both fictional and non-fictional.^[6] Most notably, he used the Cacophony Society as the basis for Project Mayhem in Fight Club.

Career

Palahniuk began writing fiction in his mid-thirties. By his account, he started writing while attending writer's workshops, hosted by Tom Spanbauer, which he attended to meet new friends. Spanbauer largely inspired Palahniuk's minimalistic writing style. His first book, Insomnia: If You Lived Here, You'd Be Home Already, never was adapted due to his disappointment with the story (though a small part of it was later salvaged for use in Fight Club Fight Club is a 1996 novel by Chuck Palahniuk. It follows the experiences of an unnamed protagonist struggling with insomnia. Inspired by his doctor's exasperated remark that insomnia is not suffering, he finds relief by impersonating a seriously ill person in several support groups. Then he meets a mysterious man named Tyler Durden and). When he attempted to publish his next novel, Invisible Monsters, publishers rejected it for its disturbing content. This led him to work on his most famous novel, Fight Club, which he wrote as an attempt to disturb the publisher even more for rejecting him. Palahniuk wrote this story in his spare time while working for Freightliner. After initially publishing it as a short story A short story is a work of fiction that is usually written in prose, often in narrative format. This format tends to be more pointed than longer works of fiction, such as novellas and novels or books. Short story definitions based upon length differ somewhat even among professional writers, due somewhat in part to the fragmentation of the medium (which would become chapter 6 of the novel) in the 1995 compilation Pursuit of Happiness, Palahniuk expanded it into a full novel, which—contrary to his expectations—the publisher was willing to publish.^[7] While the original hardcover edition of the book received positive reviews and some awards, it had a short shelf life.

Initially, Palahniuk struggled to find a literary agent A literary agent is an agent who represents writers and their written works to publishers, theatrical producers and film producers and assists in the sale and deal negotiation of the same. Literary agents most often represent novelists, screenwriters and major non-fiction writers. They are paid a fixed percentage of the proceeds of sales they and went without one until after the publication of Fight Club Fight Club is a 1996 novel by Chuck Palahniuk. It follows the experiences of an unnamed protagonist struggling with insomnia. Inspired by his doctor's exasperated remark that insomnia is not suffering, he finds relief by impersonating a seriously ill person in several support groups. Then he meets a mysterious man named Tyler Durden and.^[8] After he began receiving attention from 20th Century Fox Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation , also known as 20th Century Fox, or simply 20th or Fox, is one of the six major American film studios as of 2010[update]. Located in the Century City area of Los Angeles, just west of Beverly Hills, the studio is a subsidiary of News Corporation, the media conglomerate owned by Rupert Murdoch, Palahniuk was signed by Edward Hibbert, who is most famously known as the actor who played Gil Chesterton on Frasier Frasier is an American sitcom that was broadcast on NBC for eleven seasons, from September 16, 1993 to May 13, 2004. The program was created and produced by David Angell, Peter Casey, and David Lee in association with Grammnet (2004) and Paramount Network Television.^[8][9][10] Hibbert eventually guided and brokered the deal that took Fight Club to the big screen.^[8] In 1999, three years after the novel's publication, the film adaptation by director David Fincher was released. The film was a box office disappointment (although it was #1 at the U.S. box office in its first weekend) and critical reaction was mixed but a cult following A cult film is a film that has acquired a highly devoted but specific group of fans. Often, cult movies have failed to achieve fame outside the small fanbases; however, there have been exceptions that have managed to gain fame among mainstream audiences. Many cult movies have gone on to transcend their original cult status and have become soon emerged as the DVD of the film was popular upon release. The novel has been re-released three times in paperback, in 1999, in 2004 (with a new introduction by the author about the success of the film adaptation), and in 2005 (with an afterword by Palahniuk).

A revised version of Invisible Monsters, as well as his fourth novel, Survivor, were also published that year, allowing Palahniuk to become a cult figure A cult following is a group of fans devoted to a specific area of pop culture. These dedicated followings are usually relatively small, however they can also be quite large as evidenced by the movie The Rocky Horror Picture Show and often pertain to items that don't have broad mainstream appeal. Cult followings are prevalent in pop culture himself. A few years later Palahniuk managed to make his first New York Times bestseller The New York Times Best Seller list is widely considered to be the preeminent list of best-selling books in the United States. It is published weekly in the The New York Times Book Review magazine, which is usually found inserted in the Sunday edition of The New York Times, or as a stand-alone subscription. The best-seller list has been ongoing, the novel Choke. From then on, Palahniuk's later books would often meet with similar success. Such success has allowed him to go on book tours to promote his books, where he reads from both new and upcoming works.

The year 1999 brought a series of great personal tragedies to Palahniuk's life. At that time, his father, Fred Palahniuk, had started dating a woman named Donna Fontaine, whom he had met through a personal ad A personal or personal ad is an item or notice traditionally in the newspaper, similar to a classified ad but personal [disambiguation needed] in nature. In British English it is also commonly known as an advert in a lonely hearts column. With its rise in popularity, the World Wide Web has also become a common medium for personals, commonly under the title "Kismet". Fontaine's ex-boyfriend Dale Shackleford had recently been imprisoned for sexual abuse. Shackleford had vowed to kill Fontaine as soon as he was released from prison. Palahniuk believes that through her personal ad, Fontaine was looking for "the biggest man she could find" to protect her from Shackleford and Palahniuk's father fit this description.^[11] After his release, Shackleford followed Fontaine and the senior Palahniuk to Fontaine's home in Kendrick, Idaho, after they had gone out for a date. Shackleford then shot them both and dragged their bodies into Fontaine's cabin home, which he set on fire immediately afterwards. In the spring of 2001, Shackleford was found guilty for two counts of murder in the first degree and sentenced to death. In the wake of these events, Palahniuk began working on the novel Lullaby. According to him, he wrote the novel to help him cope with having helped decide to have Shackleford get the death sentence Capital punishment, or the death penalty, is the execution of a person by judicial process as a punishment for an offense. Crimes that can result in a death penalty are known as capital crimes or capital offences. The term capital originates from Latin capitalis, literally "regarding the head" . Hence, a capital crime was originally one.

In September 2003, Palahniuk was interviewed by Entertainment Weekly Entertainment Weekly is an American magazine, published by the Time division of Time Warner, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books and popular culture. Unlike celebrity-focused publications Us Weekly, People, and In Touch Weekly, EW's primary concentration is on entertainment media and critical reviews. Unlike Variety and's Karen Valby. During the interview, Palahniuk in confidence mentioned information pertaining to his partner. While it had been previously believed by many that he was married to a woman (some members of the press had claimed he had a wife), Palahniuk had in fact been living with his boyfriend. Some time later, Palahniuk believed that Valby was going to print this information in her article, without his consent. In response, he put an angry audio recording of himself on his web site, not only revealing that he is gay Homosexuality is romantic or sexual attraction or behavior among members of the same sex/gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality refers to "an enduring pattern of or disposition to experience sexual, affectional, or romantic attractions primarily to" people of the same sex; "it also refers to an individual’s sense of, but also making negative comments about Valby and a member of her family. However, Palahniuk's fears turned out to be ungrounded, and Valby's article did not reveal anything about his personal life outside of the fact that he is unmarried. The recording was later removed from the website, making some fans believe that Palahniuk is embarrassed by his homosexuality. According to Dennis Widmyer, the site's webmaster, the recording was not removed because of the statements regarding his sexuality, but because of the statements about Valby. Palahniuk would later post a new recording to his site, asking his fans not to overreact to these events. He also apologized for his behavior, claiming that he wished he had not recorded the message.^[12] Palahniuk is now openly gay, and he and his unnamed male partner, according to a profile and interview in The Advocate The Advocate is an American lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender monthly newsmagazine. Established in 1967, it is the oldest continuing LGBT publication in the United States in May 2008, live in "a former church compound outside Vancouver, Wash."^[2][13]

While on his 2003 tour to promote his novel Diary, Palahniuk read to his audiences a short story titled "Guts", a tale of accidents involving masturbation, which appears in his book Haunted. It was reported that to that point, 40 people had fainted while listening to the readings.^[14] Playboy magazine would later publish the story in their March 2004 issue; Palahniuk offered to let them publish another story along with it, but the publishers found the second work too disturbing. On his tour to promote Stranger Than Fiction: True Stories Stranger Than Fiction: True Stories is a non-fiction book by Chuck Palahniuk, published in 2004. It is a collection of essays, stories, and interviews written for various magazines and newspapers. Some of the pieces had also been previously published on the internet. The book is divided into three sections: "People Together", articles in the summer of 2004, he read the story to audiences again, bringing the total number of fainters up to 53, and later up to 60, while on tour to promote the softcover edition of Diary. In the fall of that year, he began promoting "Haunted", and continued to read "Guts". At his October 4, 2004 reading in Boulder, Colorado, Palahniuk noted that, after that day, his number of fainters was up to 68. The last fainting occurred on May 28, 2007, in Victoria Victoria is the capital city of British Columbia, Canada, and is located on the southern tip of Vancouver Island about 100 kilometres (62 miles) from BC's largest city of Vancouver on the mainland, British Columbia The capital of British Columbia is Victoria, the fifteenth largest metropolitan region in Canada. The largest city is Vancouver, the third-largest metropolitan area in Canada and the second-largest in the Pacific Northwest. In 2009, British Columbia had an estimated population of 4,419,974, Canada, where 5 people fainted, one of which occurred when a man was trying to leave the auditorium, which resulted in him falling and hitting his head on the door. Palahniuk is apparently not bothered by these incidents, which have not stopped fans from reading "Guts" or his other works. Audio recordings of his readings of the story have since circulated on the Internet. In the afterword of the latest edition of "Haunted", Palahniuk reports that "Guts" is now responsible for 73 faintings.

At a 2005 appearance in Miami, Florida Miami is a major city located on the Atlantic coast in southeastern Florida, in the United States. Miami is the county seat of Miami-Dade County, the most populous county in Florida. It is the principal city and the center of the South Florida metropolitan area, which had a 2008 population of 5,414,712; ranking 7th largest in the U.S.. The Miami, during the Haunted tour, Palahniuk commented that Haunted represented the last of a "horror Horror fiction is a genre of literature, which is intended to, or has the capacity to scare its readers, inducing feelings of horror and terror. Horror can be either supernatural or non-supernatural. The genre has ancient origins which were reformulated in the eighteenth century as Gothic horror, with publication of the Castle of Otranto by Horace trilogy" (including Lullaby and Diary). He also indicated that his then-forthcoming novel Rant would be the first of a "sci–fi Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with the impact of imagined innovations in science or technology. It differs from fantasy in that, within the context of the story, its imaginary elements are largely possible within scientifically established or scientifically postulated laws of nature . Exploring the consequences of such differences trilogy".

In 2008 Palahniuk took a role as an instructor for the Clarion West Writers Workshop, spending a week teaching his writing methods and theory of fiction to eighteen students.^[15]

Writing style

Palahniuk's books prior to Lullaby have distinct similarities. The characters are people who have been marginalized in one form or another by society, and who react with often self-destructive aggressiveness (a form of story that the author likes to describe as transgressive fiction Transgressive fiction is a genre of literature that focuses on characters who feel confined by the norms and expectations of society and who break free of those confines in unusual and/or illicit ways. Because they are rebelling against the basic norms of society, protagonists of transgressional fiction may seem mentally ill, anti-social and/or). Starting with Lullaby, his novels have been satirical horror stories.

The narratives of Palahniuk's books are often structured in medias res In medias res or medias in res is a Latin phrase denoting the literary and artistic narrative technique wherein the relation of a story begins either at the mid-point or at the conclusion, not at the beginning (cf. ab ovo, ab initio), establishing setting, character, and conflict via flashback and expository conversations relating the pertinent, starting at the temporal end, with the protagonist recounting the events that led up to the point at which the book begins. Lullaby used a variation of this, alternating between the normal, linear narrative and the temporal end after every few chapters. However, exceptions to this narrative form include the more linear Choke and Diary. There is often a major plot twist that is revealed near the end of the book which relates in some way to this temporal end (what Palahniuk refers to as "the hidden gun"). His more linear works also include similar plot twists.

Palahniuk's writing style has been influenced by authors such as the minimalist Tom Spanbauer (who taught Palahniuk in Portland from 1991 to 1996),^[16] Amy Hempel, Mark Richard, Denis Johnson, Thom Jones, and Bret Easton Ellis Bret Easton Ellis is an American novelist and short story writer. He was regarded as one of the so-called literary Brat Pack, which also included Tama Janowitz and Jay McInerney. He is a self-proclaimed "moralist." Ellis employs a technique of linking novels with common, recurring characters.^[17] In what the author refers to as a minimalistic Minimalism describes movements in various forms of art and design, especially visual art and music, where the work is stripped down to its most fundamental features. As a specific movement in the arts it is identified with developments in post-World War II Western Art, most strongly with American visual arts in the late 1960s and early 1970s approach, his writings use a limited vocabulary and short sentences to mimic the way that an average person telling a story would talk. In an interview, he said that he prefers to write in verbs instead of adjectives. Repetitions of certain lines in the stories' narratives (what Palahniuk refers to as "choruses") are one of the most common aspects of his writing style, found dispersed within most chapters of his novels.^{[citation needed]} Palahniuk has said that there are also some choruses between novels; the color cornflower blue Cornflower blue, a shade of azure, is a shade of light blue with relatively little green compared to blue and the city of Missoula, Montana, are said to appear in all of his books.^{[citation needed]} The characters in Palahniuk's stories often break into philosophical asides (either by the narrator to the reader, or spoken to the narrator through dialogue), offering numerous odd theories and opinions, often misanthropic Misanthropy is a generalized dislike, distrust, disgust, contempt and hatred of the human species, human nature, or society. A misanthrope is someone who holds those views and feelings. The word's origin is from Greek words μῖσος and ἄνθρωπος (anthrōpos, "man, human being"). It can be considered a form of speciesism or a or darkly absurdist "The Absurd", in philosophy, refers to the clash between the human tendency to seek inherent meaning and the human inability to find any. In this context "absurd" does not mean "logically impossible," but rather "humanly impossible." The universe and the human mind do not each separately cause the Absurd, in nature, on complex issues of death, morality, childhood, parenthood, sexuality, and God.

Many of the ideas in his novels are traced to Continental Continental philosophy, in contemporary usage, refers to a set of traditions of 19th and 20th century philosophy from mainland Europe. This sense of the term originated among English-speaking philosophers in the second half of the 20th century, who found it useful for referring to a range of thinkers and traditions outside the analytic movement thinkers such as Michel Foucault Michel Foucault , born Paul-Michel Foucault (15 October 1926 – 25 June 1984), was a French philosopher, sociologist, and historian. He held a chair at the prestigious Collège de France with the title "History of Systems of Thought," and also taught at the University at Buffalo and the University of California, Berkeley and Albert Camus Albert Camus ([albɛʁ kamy] ; 7 November 1913 – 4 January 1960) was a French Algerian author, philosopher, and journalist who was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1957. He was a key philosopher of the 20th-century and his most famous work is the novel L'Étranger (The Stranger).^[18]

When not writing fiction, Palahniuk tends to write short non-fiction works. Working as a freelance journalist in between books, he writes essays and reports on a variety of subjects; he sometimes participates in the events of these writings, which are heavy in field research. He has also written interviews with celebrities, such as Juliette Lewis and Marilyn Manson. These works appear in various magazines and newspapers, such as the Los Angeles Times The Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California, since 1881. In 2008 it was the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in circulation in the United States and the fourth most widely distributed newspaper in the country and Gear magazine. Some of these writings have shown up in his book Stranger Than Fiction: True Stories. Palahniuk also includes some non-fiction factoids Technically, a factoid is a questionable or spurious—unverified, incorrect, or fabricated—statement presented as a fact, but with no veracity. But the word is more commonly used when describing a particularly insignificant or novel fact, in absence of much relevant context.[citation needed] So while the word appears in the Oxford English within his fictional works. According to the author, these are included in order to further immerse the reader in his work.

Criticism

The content of Palahniuk's works has earned him a reputation as a nihilist. Palahniuk however rejects this label, claiming he is a romantic, and that his works are mistakenly seen as nihilistic because they express ideas that others do not believe in.^[19]

Palahniuk represents a distinct voice for an interim generation. "Coming to consciousness during the Vietnam War, watching Watergate destroy trust in public office, and raised by parents among whom divorce was popular but not well managed" this group, born between 1957 and 1965, grew up disassociated from and dissatisfied with institutions (L. E. Andrews, The Daily Cougar). Palahniuk channels this spirit, its ache to build and its inability to follow through. As they have aged, this half-generation has not developed a strong sense of group identity and are well known to alumni offices across America as the Lost Generation, regularly donating less to their colleges and universities than any other age group. From Project Mayhem in 'Fight Club' to Carl's building and destroying of model buildings in 'Lullaby', Palahniuk catheterizes his generation’s anger, failure, and disheartening desire to destroy whatever they build. “Chuck’s nihilism, small ‘n’, is a reflection of his age. The foundational act of his generation is the actual destruction of the global financial system in 2008” (A. Broussard, The Oswego Review).

Laura Miller of Salon.com wrote a scathing review of Diary, saying that Palahniuk's books "traffic in the half-baked nihilism of a stoned high school student who has just discovered Nietzsche and Nine Inch Nails" and that "everything even remotely clever in them has been done before and better by someone else".^[20]

In response, fans as well as Palahniuk himself (who had never responded to a review before) sent angry e-mails to Salon's Letters section. Palahniuk observed "Until you can create something that captivates people, I'd invite you to just shut up. It's easy to attack and destroy an act of creation. It's a lot more difficult to perform one."^[21]

As Palahniuk's career continues, some critics have also accused him of using lurid subject matters simply because it is expected of him. In Tasha Robinson's review of Haunted in The A.V. Club, Robinson wrote that gruesome scenes are "piled up to such extremes that it seems like Palahniuk is just double-daring himself to top each new vile degradation with something worse."^[22]

Adaptations

Other than the film, Fight Club was also adapted into a fighting video game loosely based on the film, which was released in October 2004 to universally poor reviews.^[23] Palahniuk has mentioned at book readings that he is working on a musical based on Fight Club with David Fincher and Trent Reznor.^[24] Edward Norton has said that he thinks it is unlikely that he and Brad Pitt, who "can't sing", would reprise their film roles for the musical.^[25]

Graphic novel adaptations of Invisible Monsters and Lullaby, drawn by comic artist Kissgz, aka Gabor, are available online.^[26]

Following the success of the movie of Fight Club, interest began to build in adapting Survivor to film.^{[citation needed]} The film rights to Survivor were first sold in early 2001, but no movie studio had committed itself to filming the novel. After the attacks on The Pentagon and World Trade Center on September 11, 2001, the movie studios apparently deemed the novel too controversial to film because it includes the hijacking and crashing of a civilian airplane.^[27] However, in mid-2004 20th Century Fox decided to commit itself to adapting Palahniuk's novel. Palahniuk has said that the people who made the film Constantine will be working on this film.^[28]

In the meantime, the film rights to Invisible Monsters and Diary were also sold. While little is known about some of these projects, it is known that Jessica Biel was signed on to play the roles of both Shannon and Brandy in Invisible Monsters, which was supposed to begin filming in 2004 but as of 2005^[update] has not begun production.

On January 14, 2008, the film version of Choke premiered at the Sundance Film Festival, starring Sam Rockwell and Anjelica Huston with Clark Gregg directing.^[29] David Fincher has expressed interest in filming Diary as an HBO miniseries.^[30][31]

Website

In 1999, a fan by the name of Dennis Widmyer introduced himself to Palahniuk at a reading for Invisible Monsters. He pitched the idea of a website devoted to Palahniuk, as he felt at the time that there was not enough information available online for the author. Palahniuk was flattered and accepted the offer, unsure if Widmyer would actually follow through with his plan. A few weeks later, he received an email from Widmyer informing him that ChuckPalahniuk.net was now up and running and already growing a dedicated fan base. Approving of the site, Palahniuk soon gave Widmyer permission to call it official.

Over the course of the next ten years, the website (which calls itself The Cult) grew to become the largest of its kind. With over 700,000 page views a month and 30,000 registered users on its forums alone, it expanded to include sections on Palahniuk's books, movies, media appearances, tour dates, and more. But perhaps its most important feature remains the Writers' Workshop. In 2004 Palahniuk and Widmyer conceived of a section on the site where up and coming writers could submit their original work to a database and have it read, rated, and reviewed by their peers. The section accepted everything from short stories and poems to screenplays and novel excerpts. Palahniuk would then pen a monthly "How To" essay on writing that his readers could benefit from and apply to their own craft. This process continued for three years.

In February 2009, Palahniuk began accepting six stories every month from his fans that would be narrowed down through a nominations process every month. The stories are read and reviewed by Palahniuk and helpful feedback is provided for the writer. It is Palahniuk's intention in 2010 to select the best stories from the year and publish them in an anthology for which he will be writing the introduction.

Besides contributing thoroughly to his fans through the Writers Workshop on the site, Palahniuk also tries to answer every piece of fan mail sent to him. He sometimes sends odd gifts (such as plastic severed hands, prom tiaras, and masks) back with his responses. He also often gives these to fans at his book readings, sometimes as prizes for asking him questions. Along with signing fans' books at these readings, he also marks them with humorous rubber stamps that relate to the books (for instance, a stamp of "Property of Dr. B. Alexander Sex Reassignment Clinic" in a copy of Invisible Monsters).

Television appearances

Besides his various promotional outings, Palahniuk has also made several notable television appearances to discuss cultural issues, including Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations exploring his beloved Pacific Northwest in 2007^[32] and the BBC's Hardtalk Extra in 2004.^[33]

Awards

Palahniuk has won the following awards:

• the 1997 Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association Award (for Fight Club)
• the 1997 Oregon Book Award for Best Novel (for Fight Club)^[34]
• the 2003 Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association Award (for Lullaby)^[35]

He was also nominated for the 1999 Oregon Book Award for Best Novel for Survivor and for the Bram Stoker Award for Best Novel for Lullaby in 2002 and Haunted in 2005.

Bibliography

Fiction

• Fight Club (1996)
• Survivor (1999)
• Invisible Monsters (1999)
• Choke (2001)
• Lullaby (2002)
• Diary (2003)
• Haunted (2005)
• Rant (2007)
• Snuff (2008)
• Pygmy (2009)
• Tell-All (2010)^[36]
• Damned (2011)^[37]

Short Fiction

• "Fetch" in Dark Delicacies III (2009)
• "Loser" in Stories (2010)

Non-fiction

• Fugitives and Refugees: A Walk in Portland, Oregon (2003)
• Stranger Than Fiction: True Stories (2004)
• You Do Not Talk About Fight Club: I Am Jack's Completely Unauthorized Essay Collection (2008) (introduction)

Films

• Fight Club (1999)
• Choke (2008)
• Invisible Monsters (2010)
• Haunted (TBA), optioned property
• Survivor (2011)
• Rant (TBA), optioned property
• Diary (TBA), optioned property
• Lullaby (TBA), optioned property
• Snuff (TBA), rights bought by a French company ^[38]

See also

• List of novelists from the United States

Notes

1. ^ "[1]". Chuckpalahniuk.net. Retrieved June 1, 2006.
2. ^ ^{a b} Bunn, Alstin (May 21, 2008). "Open Book: Chuck Palahniuk writes stories that fearlessly expose the darkest parts of the human experience. So why is it that when it comes to his sexuality there are still some things he likes to keep hidden?". The Advocate. http://www.advocate.com/exclusive_detail_ektid54713.asp. Retrieved May 8, 2009.
3. ^ Jenkins, Emily. "Extreme Sport". The Village Voice. October 19, 1999.
4. ^ "Fright club". The Observer. May 8, 2005.
5. ^ Palahniuk, Chuck. Stranger Than Fiction: True Stories. Garden City: Doubleday, 2004. pp.195-199 ISBN 0-385-50448-9
6. ^ Palahniuk, Chuck. Stranger Than Fiction: True Stories. Garden City: Doubleday, 2004. p. 56. ISBN 0-385-50448-9
7. ^ Tomlinson, Sarah. "Is it fistfighting, or just multi-tasking?". Salon.com. October 13, 1999.
8. ^ ^{a b c} Author FAQ: "How did he land an agent? Believe it or not, Chuck had to go through hell and back to land an agent..."
9. ^ Author FAQ: "Who is his agent? Edward Hibbert of Donadio & Olson, Inc. is Chuck's book agent. Check out Edward's double life as an actor..."
10. ^ Glitz, Michael (December 25, 2001). "Hibbert on: out actor Edward Hibbert talks about the Noises Off revival, his side career as an agent, and the best antidote to anthrax". The Advocate. Archived from the original on 2007-11-01. http://web.archive.org/web/20071101100455/http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1589/is_2001_Dec_25/ai_83451277. Retrieved May 23, 2008.
11. ^ "Palahniuk, Slapstick, Skyspace". Studio 360, NPR. February 12, 2006.
12. ^ Chalmers, Robert. "Chuck Palahniuk: Stranger than fiction". The Independent. August 1, 2004.
13. ^ "Fight Club author Chuck Palahniuk is talking dirty". The Times (London). July 25, 2008. http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/books/article4396841.ece. Retrieved April 30, 2010.
14. ^ "I dare you". The Guardian. March 13, 2004.
15. ^ "Clarion West Turns 25". Locus Magazine, September 2008: Page 5
16. ^ [2]
17. ^ "What Authors Influenced You?", Authorsontheweb.com. Retrieved on July 10, 2007.
18. ^ The Unexpected Romantic: An Interview with Chuck Palahniuk, AlterNet.
19. ^ Williams, Laura J. "Knock Out". Ann Arbor Paper. Retrieved June 20, 2005.
20. ^ Miller, Laura. "review of Diary". Salon.com. August 20, 2003.
21. ^ "Salon.com Letters". Response by Palahniuk to Laura Miller's review. August 26, 2003.
22. ^ Robinson, Tasha. "Haunted". The AV Club. May 17, 2005.
23. ^ Game Rankings: Fight Club
24. ^ Chang, Jade. "tinseltown: fight club and fahrenheit". BBC.co.uk. July 2, 2004.
25. ^ "The Scoop: Elisabeth Hasselbeck invited to Palin rallies/Plus: Ed Norton disses Brad Pitt's singing; Katie Holmes no ratings winner". MSNBC.com. Microsoft/MSN. October 23, 2008. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27329218/. Retrieved July 9, 2009.
26. ^ The Cult
27. ^ Postcards from the Future: The Chuck Palahniuk Documentary. Kinky Mule Films. DVD Video. 2003.
28. ^ Epstein, Daniel Robert. "Chuck Palahniuk: Author of Haunted". SuicideGirls.com. Retrieved May 12, 2006.
29. ^ Widmyer, Dennis. Chuckpalahniuk.net. April 30, 2007.
30. ^ Sciretta, Peter. The Chuck Palahniuk Update. Cinematical.com. June 17, 2005.
31. ^ Chuckpalahniuk.net. Retrieved October 12, 2006.
32. ^ "Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations" Pacific NW (2007)
33. ^ "HARDtalk Extra" Chuck Palahniuk (2006)
34. ^ Oregon Book Awards. Literary Arts, Inc. Retrieved June 20, 2005.
35. ^ Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association Awards. Retrieved June 20, 2005.
36. ^ "First Details For Chuck Palahniuk's 2010 Novel, "Tell-All"". Chuckpalahniuk.net. March 7, 2009. http://chuckpalahniuk.net/news/first-details-for-chuck-palahniuks-2010-novel-tell-all. Retrieved March 7, 2009.
37. ^ "Chuck's Next Novel Is "Damned"". May 2, 2010. http://chuckpalahniuk.net/books/damned. Retrieved May 2, 2010.
38. ^ "Chuck Palahniuk Tells All". 2010. http://www.themaineedge.com/content/18716/Chuck_Palahniuk_tells_all/. Retrieved May 27, 2010.

External links

• Chuck Palahniuk's official fan web site
• IMDB
• Author profile at Internet Book List
• Rishel, Jay. Chuck Palahniuk in the Oregon Encyclopedia.
• Academic Journal (Stirrings Still) Issue Devoted to Palahniuk
• Palahniuk Interview on The Hour' with George Stroumboulopoulos
• Palahniuk's Snuff SuicideGirls interview with Garrett Faber
• Palahniuk interview in The List magazine
• Hungarian Chuck Palahniuk fansite

Categories: 1962 births | American novelists | American satirists | Cacophony Society | LGBT writers from the United States | Living people | Minimalist writers | People from Franklin County, Washington | Postmodernists | Postmodern literature | Writers from Oregon | University of Oregon alumni | Gay writers

See Also:

What Links Here:

• Home

Recently Viewed Pages:

• Home
• Blogs
• Domain Details
• About Us
• Dictionary
• Wikiquote:Text of the GNU Free Documentation License: Quotes
• Fight Club: Encyclopedia
• Index:All Languages: Dictionary
• Shopping
• Category:Phrasebook: Dictionary

Most Popular Pages:

• Content
• Blogs
• Chuck Palahniuk: Web Search
• Domain Details
• About Us
• Category:Phrasebook: Dictionary
• Dictionary
• Referrers
• Authaus: Images
• Index:All Languages: Dictionary

Related 'Chuck Palahniuk' Searches: