As you may remember from John’s story about “how all this Damned stuff came about,” Zita was our long-time Palahniuk reader currently on staff at Lemuria. So the rest of us are trying to get our Palahniuk education, John’s been working really hard on it. He just finished reading an advanced copy of Damned. Here are his thoughts:
It seems the more I try to learn about the work of Chuck Palahniuk, the more scrambled I become.
My thoughts from reading Chuck’s work becomes mixed up with flashing insights about the world around me. The author projects an onslaught of ideas to the reader generating creativity mixed with the uncomfortable.
Trying to grasp the truth of Chuck, as a reader, I’m struck by his skill to observe the world. His work challenges us to question our own egotistical ideals and desires. Through his keen eye for observation and his ability to translate what he sees into fiction, we seem not only to understand but identify with aspects of his flawed characters.
Chuck’s ability to relate details that cause association to character or situation is uncanny and sneaks up on the reader. We experience details of experience even when we don’t want to. It is this skill he seems to have honed through his personal reading and his ability to observe without judgment. He seems to challenge the reader about their beliefs without telling them what to believe in.
Some readers may feel Chuck characters are too bleak or dark, such as Maddy’s gang from Damned, running around Hell like Quantrill’s gang of Jesse, Cole and Bloody Bill did through Kansas. Maddy’s wild bunch rouses up fairy tales of mischief in the underworld or in our own world, the reader. When you gang up in Hell with the worst of our lot, what as a character, have you got to lose? At this point, in Hell, the bottom of the barrel is when truth begins to emerge.
Obviously, Chuck has looked hard into his mirror. Through his writing we look into ourselves, closer up, even while we fight the discomfort. Reading Chuck makes us see the world differently and changes our observations about how we fit into it. We emerge from the combine efforts of (author/reader) with enlarged perspectives.
On Thursday, October 20, 2011, Lemuria with our collaborative (or gang) of good folks come together to throw down for Chuck Palahniuk’s introduction to Jackson. This evening is extra special for Lemuria since October 20, 1975 was Lemuria’s first day to sell books. We end our 36th year celebrating writing and reading.
From now until October 20th, I leave you, Jackson readers, with this concept to pause and reflect on:
Social commentary is the act of rebelling against an individual, or a group of people by rhetorical means. This is most often done with the idea of implementing or promoting change by informing the general populace about a given problem and appealing to people’s sense of justice.
JX//RX
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cpcp
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