Provocative writing : the disgusting and taboo fictional landscape in Chuck Palahniuk

Abstract

The thesis discusses the ways in which Chuck Palahniuk, one of America's most contentious authors, explores ideas of the taboo and unspeakable, and answers the question: is Palahniuk using taboo subjects solely to disgust and shock readers, or for an additional purpose, such as challenging readers' assumptions about ideas of difference? The taboo here accounts for the proscribed and non-normative, as it pertains to gender, beauty, sexuality and desire. These themes are evident in the novels I examine: Fight Club (1996), Invisible Monsters Remix (1999), Haunted (2005) and Beautiful You (2014). Palahniuk disgusts and shocks his readers through crude and dark humour and extremely graphic depictions of sex and violence. I examine whether Palahniuk's fiction functions as social critique and satire, particularly in terms of his exploration of issues such as rape, transgender identity and masculinity, or if his work has been rightly dismissed as mere adolescent shock writing. I argue that Palahniuk utilizes tactics of shock and excess to prompt his readers to reflect on their own attitudes about norms pertaining to sex, gender and identity. Although Palahniuk reads as crude and immature, I demonstrate that his novels offer substantive explorations into ideas of difference and otherness, the constructedness of gender, and women's representation in media.

Date of Award	2019
Original language	English