This blog entry is for the person who knows pretty much nothing about Chuck Palahniuk. For the people who read Chuck Palahniuk, for the people who are on the edge of their seat waiting for his latest book, they seem to be pretty tight-lipped about what they’re reading. Maybe you’re like me: You know the movie Fight Club. Well, that was based on Chuck’s book of the same name.

I am writing this blog to share some of my observations as I delve into the world of Chuck Palahniuk. If you’re still curious at the end of this blog, I urge you to spend some time on Chuck’s official fan page right here.

Chuck grew up in Washington, and after the age of 14 when his parents divorced, he spent a good deal of time on his maternal grandparents cattle ranch. His paternal grandparents he never knew but Joshua Chaplinsky explains in a bio written for The Official Chuck Palahniuk Web Page that they certainly left an impression:

The surname, Palahniuk, which is Ukrainian in origin, can be spelled and pronounced numerous different ways. According to Chuck, his paternal grandparents decided to pronounce it as a combination of their first names, Paula and Nick. But Chuck never knew his father’s parents.

As recounted in an interview with The Independent, his grandfather shot and killed his grandmother after an argument over the cost of a sewing machine. Chuck’s father, who was three at the time, watched from under a bed as Nick Palahniuk searched the house for additional victims, before turning the gun on himself.

In the article, Chuck is quoted as saying, “My grandfather was hit over the head by a crane boom in Seattle. Some of the family claimed he was never a violent, crazy person before that. Some say he was. It depends who you believe.” The tragic event is depicted on the U.S. cover of Stranger Than Fiction.

I am reading the true stories collected in Stranger Than Fiction right now. I decided to delve into this before I started reading his fiction. I wanted to know what inspired his fiction.

Some of the essays are the stories of true-life encounters with subcultures: a testicle festival in Montana, the strange world of Marilyn Manson, men building their own full-size castles and rocket ships they hope will send them into space.  These and others seem to inspire the content of Chuck’s fiction. He reminds me of my favorite sociology teacher, reporting to us what people on the fringes were doing–not judging, just reporting.

One particular essay, “Dear Mr. Levin,” seems to explain the reason behind the content. You may remember The Stepford Wives. Well, that was written by Ira Levin. Chuck explains why he believes Mr. Levin has been so successful in fan letter form:

Your books, they’re not so much horror stories as cautionary fables. You write a smart, updated version of the kind of folksy legends that cultures have always used–like nursery rhymes and stain-glassed windows–to teach some basic ideas to people.

Your books, including Rosemary’s Baby, The Stepford Wives, and Sliver, take some of the thorniest issues in our culture and charm us into facing the problem. As recreation. You turn this kind of therapy into fun. On our lunch breaks, waiting for the bus, lying in bed, you have us face these Big Issues, and fighting them.

I am about three chapters into an advanced copy of Damned. Already I am wondering what issues Chuck presents in the character of Maddy, a thirteen-year-old chubby girl who finds herself in Hell and says she died of an overdose of marijuana and suffers from extremely low self-esteem. How does she describe what it’s like to be dead? Maddy says if you’re good at watching television or surfing the Internet you’ll be good at being dead.

Our bookstore friend, Neil White commented about his introduction to Chuck from Barry Hannah:

“I’m a big fan, too. First discovered Chuck while playing tennis with Barry Hannah in the mid-90s. After a game, Barry held up an ARC of Fight Club. ‘I get five of these things a week,’ Barry said, ‘I rarely get past the first page.’  Then he handed me the book and said, ‘this one’s different.'”

“High praise from a guy who also recognized the real deals.”

Obviously, there is much more to Chuck. Check him out for yourself.

To get the details on Chuck Palahniuk’s visit to Jackson on October 20th, click here.

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