Achieving Cult Status: Chuck Palahniuk's Early Fiction

Mgr. Adéla Smažilová

Master's thesis

Abstract:

In my thesis I examine cultural mechanisms which led to establishment of a cult status of American writer Chuck Palahniuk in contemporary popular culture. The first part of the thesis focuses on literary analysis of his two early novels Fight Club and Survivor. The second part of the thesis diagnoses Palahniuk’s writing style and his main topics so as to reveal how his novels became texts of popular culture. The third part constitutes of analyzing various interplays between the artist, his readers and culture industry so as to show how can Palahniuk’s cult status challenge the position of literature as a genre and as a cultural practice in today’s postmodern urban context.

Keywords

Chuck Palahniuk, Fight Club, Survivor, modern male identity, popular culture, masochism, postmodern urban context

Jazyk práce: English

Datum vytvoření / odevzdání či podání práce: 22. 8. 2007

Obhajoba závěrečné práce

• Obhajoba proběhla 10. 9. 2007
• Vedúci: Stepen Hardy, PhD.

Masaryk University

Faculty of Arts

Master programme / odbor:
Humanities / English Language and Literature