Chuck Palahniuk, Parodist: Postmodern Irony in Six Transgressive Novels

by David McCracken

Overview

Chuck Palahniuk, America's premier transgressive novelist, enjoys a tremendous readership. Yet he has not necessarily been embraced by critics or academics. His prose is considered vulgar by some, but his body of work addresses a core motivation of 21st-century life: individual self-empowerment. Palahniuk writes about what it means to be on the outside looking in, revising familiar narratives for a contemporary audience to get at the heart of the human condition--everyone wants a chance to win his or her fair share, no matter the cost.

In Haunted, Snuff, Pygmy, Tell-All, Damned and Invisible Monsters Remix, he confronts marginalization and disenfranchisement through parodies of various works--The Decameron, The Inferno, Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret, The Elephant Man--as well as Hollywood history, 1970s karate films and the porn industry. This comprehensive study of six novels refutes criticism that Palahniuk's goals are to shock and sensationalize.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781476627380
Publisher:	McFarland & Company, Incorporated Publishers
Publication date:	07/12/2016
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	228
File size:	2 MB
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

David McCracken is a professor of English at Coker College in Hartsville, South Carolina. His areas of expertise are American literature, contemporary fiction, and rhetoric and composition.
David McCracken is a professor of English at Coker College in Hartsville, South Carolina. His areas of expertise are American literature, contemporary fiction, and rhetoric and composition.

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

Preface
One—Chuck Palahniuk and Postmodern Parody
Two—Haunted as Parody of Boccaccio’s Decameron
Three—“True fact”: Hyperreality in Snuff
Four—Pygmy as Parody of 1970s Karate Films
Five—Tell-All as Parody of Hollywood’s Golden Age of Gossip Journalism
Six—Damned as Parody of Dante’s Inferno
Seven—The Elephant Man in Invisible Monsters Remix
Eight—Empowerment
Nine—The Rhetorical Situation
Ten—Future Postmodern Parody
Chapter Notes
Bibliography
Index