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Chuck Palahniuk – Author of Fight Club

By PDX People

PORTLAND, Ore. – Born in 1962 in Pasco Washington, Chuck Palahniuk didn’t start writing fiction until later in life because he spent his 20’s going to college at the University of Oregon and working for National Public Radio before moving to Portland and writing for the Oregonian for a short while, and then began working for Freightliner as a diesel mechanic, continuing until his writing career took off.

After he reached his 30’s, Palahniuk began taking writing workshops and he wrote his first novel, Invisible Monsters, which publishers ultimately rejected, but the rejection didn’t lead him on a path of despair because he went back to working on what would ultimately become his most well-known book to date, Fight Club.

About Fight Club

Published in 1996, Fight Club is a story about a young, 30 something, man who has grown discontented with life and his boring white collar job. As he searches for meaning in his life he meets a man called Tyler Durden and they quickly form a Fight Club that enables other men to fight each other recreationally.

Although the story is about men fighting each other, Fight Club does have a deeper meaning because the main character realizes that his life is much more than just his job and he starts really living his life for the first time.

The film version of Fight Club starring Brad Pitt and Edward Norton was released in 1999; what’s interesting about the movie is that it bombed in the theaters but over the 17 years since its release the film has become a “cult phenomenon” thanks to the concept of the story, and the line “you don’t talk about Fight Club”, which has been mentioned in many television shows and movies over the years.

Transgressional Fiction

Palahniuk’s writing style has been described as “transgressional fiction” since his characters, like those in Fight Club, often find themselves at odds with society and forced into making self-destructive decisions.

Since writing Fight Club, Mr. Palahniuk has gone on to write other books including Choke and Rant but he still remains well-known for Fight Club because he’s also gone on to write new Fight Club stories for comics and graphic novels.

Chuck Palahniuk has also appeared in television over the years to discuss cultural issues and he also appeared on Anthony Bourdain’s show No Reservations to explore the Pacific Northwest.

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