CHUCK PALAH NIUK
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STRANGE BUT TRUE: A SHORT BIOGRAPHY OF CHUCK PALAHNIUK by Joshua Chaplinsky Truth is stranger than fiction, at least for those blessed with interesting lives. The rest of us have no choice but to live vicariously through their stories. In the case of bestselling cult author Chuck Palahniuk, the embellishment of his exploits by fans has made it hard to tell exactly where reality ends and the storytelling begins. There are those who would have us believe he entered this world kicking and screaming, brandishing a pen, when in fact he comes from much more humble (albeit interesting) beginnings. HUMBLE BEGINNINGS Born February 21, 1962, Charles Michael Palahniuk spent his early childhood living out of a mobile home in Burbank, Washington. His parents, Carol and Fred Palahniuk, separated and divorced when he was fourteen, leaving Chuck and his three siblings to spend much of their time on their maternal grandparent’s cattle ranch. 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. His home life was
unspectacular on the surface, but underneath that façade his family held a violent and tragic secret. 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. Unfortunately, this tale of violence would not be the last to touch the Palahniuk family. 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. Aside from what’s revealed in his writing, not much is known about Palahniuk’s formative years. In 1980 he graduated from Columbia High School in Burbank, winning the award for “Most Wittiest” in the process. Some regard this award as
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02 the catalyst for his nascent interest in writing, but according to Chuck, that honor belongs to Mr. Olsen, his fifth grade teacher, who told him: “Chuck, you do this really well. And this is much better than setting fires, so keep it up.” After high school, Chuck attended the University of Oregon, graduating with a ba in journalism in 1986. He would never allow anyone to read his writings from that era but it is clear that his time in college was key to developing his observational skills. While a college student he spent most of his time working as an intern for National Public Radio member station klcc in Eugene, Oregon. Palahniuk’s writing style has been greatly influenced by Tom Spanbauer, who taught writing classes attended by Palahniuk in Portland. Frequently, the main character tells the story while speaking in the past tense, as if they were telling the story in real time. Themes in his stories tend to be dark and misanthropic while maintaining a developed sense of black humor. This has resulted in a reputation as a nihilist in some critic’s eyes, a charge Palahniuk frequently dismisses. After graduating Chuck decided to and move to Portland, Oregon where he began working for local newspapers. He entered the workforce as a journalist for a local Portland newspaper, but soon grew tired of the job. Palahniuk did not return to journalism until after becoming established as a novelist. He
also spent time doing volunteer work at a homeless shelter as well as at a hospice for the terminally ill, where he escorted patients to support meetings. Palahniuk stopped volunteering after a patient he grew close to passed away. He then gained employment as a diesel mechanic, spending his days repairing trucks and writing technical manuals. It was during this time that Chuck experienced much of what would become fodder for his early work, including working as an escort for terminally ill hospice patients and becoming a member of the notorious Cacophony Society. Said to be the inspiration for Project Mayhem in Fight Club, The Cacophony Society was dedicated to experiencing things outside of the mainstream and performing large-scale pranks in public places. EARLY CAREER Chuck has always been fascinated by what drives people to behave as they do. One aspect of American life, in particular, became his obsession — the ability to recreate yourself to be what you dream you should be. Perhaps an insight into why this theme appealed to him. The struggle to define who he was obsessed Palahniuk and he yearned to write about it, but he did not feel he was ready to write a book. In his mid-thirties, Chuck decided to try his hand at writing fiction. A friend suggested he attend a workshop hosted by Tom Spanbauer, minimalist guru behind the art of “Dangerous Writing.” The resulting short
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story, Negative Reinforcement, appeared in the now defunct literary journal Modern Short Stories in August 1990, and is Chuck’s first known published work. The Love Theme of Sybil and William followed in October. Palahniuk’s strong need to explore the dynamics of identity in American life forced him to ask some tough questions that he had never seen addressed well in literature: How susceptible are we to the images around us? How much sway does a movie or an advertisement hold over us? Are we able to fight a force so powerful with only our own sense of identity as a defense? Chuck’s first attempt at a novel, If You Lived Here, You’d be Home Already, was also written while attending the workshop. The 700-page monster of a book was Chuck’s attempt at emulating Stephen King, and was rejected across the board — although parts were later recycled for use in Fight Club. Unfazed, Chuck dabbled with even darker material, writing a manuscript called Manifesto, which would go on to become Invisible Monsters. As with If You Lived Here, agents just couldn’t embrace the dark tone in Chuck’s work, and while his voice as a writer got some recognition, nobody was willing to take a chance on him. FIGHT CLUB That all changed when Chuck “gave up” on the mainstream and decided to make his next manuscript even darker. Written in stolen moments under truck chassis and on park benches to a soundtrack of The Downward Spiral and Pablo Honey, Fight Club came into existence. Written for a writers’ club made up of his friends, Palahniuk crafted the tale while holding down a job as a diesel mechanic for Freightliner. Fight Club was the perfect book for the times. Many American men, frustrated with modern society’s idea of how they should behave, were looking for a different perspective on what it means to be a man. Palahniuk tackled the issue directly and created a character who was well–behaved on the surface, but haunted by demons and consumed with an urge that made him want to fight — not for any cause in particular, just to feel the pain of it and to see if he could handle it. Within months, Gerry Howard — then editor at ww Norton — convinced the higher-ups to take a chance on the fledgling writer, and Chuck soon had a book deal with a major publisher. The novel only fell into obscurity in the marketplace, with mixed
reviews from many critics and reviewers and only managing passable sales at best. Despite its dark tone, Fight Club was published in 1996, and won the Oregon Book Award the next year. But it wasn’t until 20th Century Fox took notice that Chuck nabbed an agent in Edward Hibbert — best known as Gil Chesterton, the food critic on Frasier — who would go on to broker the deal for Fight Club the movie. Directed by David Fincher, the adaptation of Fight Club was a flop at the box office, but achieved cult status on dvd. The year of its release, the film was Fox’s top selling disc, and critics everywhere finally began to embrace it. The film’s popularity drove sales of the novel, resulting in multiple re-printings over the next few years. As it turned out, many men identified with the complex message of being male in a society that does not want to openly discuss the violence that exists under its civilized and mature surface. If anything, Palahniuk was trying to get a handle on what makes us consider ourselves adults, or mature. Due to this success, Chuck was given free reign, creatively. He put out two novels in 1999 — religious satire Survivor, and the rewritten Invisible Monsters — and has written almost a book a year since. Choke, published in 2001, became Chuck’s first New York Times bestseller. All of his novels thereafter have had similar success. Palahniuk was enjoying tremendous success and found that he could write for a living, something he was skeptical would ever happen. He quickly delivered a number of books, identical in theme and similarly sharp in tone. Survivor, Invisible Monsters — released in a different form than when he first sent it out years before — and Choke all dealt with identity and how the protagonist can transform and what the consequences are of that transformation. Palahniuk had developed a reputation for making the bizarre seem realistic. His sense of violence seemed sophisticated, as if uncomfortable moments and dangerous lifestyles were just under the surface for all of us. Palahniuk is very aware of this and tries not to cross the line. To cross that line, in his opinion, is inviting failure. Violence without any meaning will just lose the audience. TRAGEDY & LULLABY Unfortunately, 1999 was also a time of devastating loss for Palahniuk. In the midst of his success Palahniuk’s family was about to be dealt another senselessly violent blow. Fred Palahniuk, Chuck’s
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“HAVE YOUR ADVENTURES, MAKE YOUR MISTAKES, AND CHOOSE YOUR FRIENDS POORLY — ALL THESE MAKE FOR GREAT STORIES.”
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father, had started to date someone new after divorcing his wife, Carol, Chuck’s mother. Fred found the woman in a newspaper ad and to the surprise of his son, seemed to be getting along with her well. Chuck recalls his father being happier than he had ever seen him. Palahniuk believes that using a personal ad, Fontaine was looking for “the biggest man she could find” to protect her from Shackelford and Palahniuk’s father qualified. Donna Fontaine was a great match for Fred but, unfortunately, she had an abusive ex–husband, Dale Shackelford, who she put in jail for battery and sexual abuse. Shackleford had vowed to kill Fontaine as soon as he was released. After his release, Shackelford followed Donna and Fred on their way home from a date. Dale shot and killed them both in the mountains outside Kendrick, Idaho. He dragged the bodies into the house and in an attempt to make it look like an accident, set it on fire. Chuck’s work has always been infused with personal experience, and his next novel, Lullaby, was no exception. Chuck credits writing Lullaby with helping him cope with the tragic death of his father, who was murdered in 1999 by the jealous ex of a woman met through a personal advertisement. A major theme of the book is power, and Chuck has gone on record as saying it was inspired by sitting in the court room, in judgment of the man who killed his father. That man was found guilty and sentenced to death in 2001. Palahniuk was later asked to help determine the sentence for the man who killed his father. He asked for the death penalty. Lullaby was a departure from Palahniuk’s theme of personal reinvention. His father’s death forced him to deal with the kind of rage that made him want to kill his father’s murderer. As a victim’s son, it was his prerogative to ask the judge for the death sentence. Though the decision haunted him, the choice itself appealed to the writer in him. Palahniuk wanted to write a story where a character could just wish someone dead and they would die. He came up with the idea of a lulling song, or a song that can kill someone if you even hum it. Lullaby takes a look at what would happen if such a verse were loosed on the United States. The tale did not delve into identity as much as it did into our priorities, and our ability to act on what we decide must be done. LATER WORKS With the trial behind him, Chuck threw himself into his work. 2003 would go down as a banner
year, but not many people realize it began with a small literary conference in Edinboro, Pennsylvania. The three-day event gave fans unprecedented access to the author and his work, and was presided over by Chuck himself. The schedule consisted of exclusive readings, q&as, book signings, dissertations — all devoted to Chuck. Not one to revel in the spotlight, Chuck selflessly used this forum to promote the art of storytelling, and to encourage a generation of young readers to evolve into writers. The entire affair was thoroughly documented by a crew from ChuckPalahniuk.net in the film, Postcards From the Future: The Chuck Palahniuk Documentary. Both Diary and the non-fiction guide to Portland, Fugitives and Refugees, were released later that year. While on the road in support of Diary, Chuck began reading a short story entitled ‘Guts,’ which would eventually become part of the novel Haunted. ‘Guts’ instantly became one of Chuck’s most infamous stories, due in large part to the graphic nature of its content — extreme masturbation gone awry — and the fact that it caused people to faint at his readings. Over a hundred faintings have been reported, one of the most severe occurring during a reading at Columbia University, where a man fell to the ground and awoke screaming. The incident was caught on tape and is featured in the Postcards From the Future documentary. PERSONAL LIFE It was also around this time that Chuck publicly came out as homosexual. For a long time it was assumed that Chuck was married, and some members of the press even perpetuated the myth that he had a wife, but he set the record straight via an audio message posted on ChuckPalahniuk.net. In September 2003, Palahniuk was interviewed by Karen Valby, a reporter for Entertainment Weekly. During the interview, in confidence, Palahniuk mentioned information pertaining to his partner. It previously had been believed by many that he was married to a woman — some members of the press had claimed he had a wife — but in fact, Palahniuk had been living with his boyfriend. Some time later, Palahniuk came to believe that Valby was going to print this information in her article, without his consent. In response, he made an angry audio recording and put it on his web site, not only revealing that he was gay, but also making negative comments about Valby and a member of her family. Palahniuk’s fears turned out to be incorrect, however, and Valby’s
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article did not reveal anything about his personal life outside of the fact that he was unmarried. The recording was later removed from the web site, making some fans believe that Palahniuk was embarrassed by his homosexuality. According to Dennis Widmyer, the site’s webmaster, the recording was not removed because of the statements regarding his sexuality, but because of the negative statements about Valby. Palahniuk later posted a new recording to his site, asking his fans not to overreact to these events. He also apologized for his behavior, claiming that he wished he had not recorded the message. Palahniuk is now openly gay and according to a profile and interview in The Advocate in May 2008, he and his unnamed male partner, live in “a former church compound outside Vancouver, Washington.” He and his partner have been together for over twenty years, having met while Palahniuk was working at Freightliner. He told one interviewer: “We both had these very blue-collar lives, and now our lives are completely different.” LATER YEARS & WRITING STYLE In the years that followed, things seemed to settle down for Chuck. He continued to write, publishing the bestselling Rant, Snuff, Pygmy, Tell-All, a ‘Remix’ of Invisible Monsters, Damned and most recently, Doomed. To this day, he still attends a weekly workshop with close friends and writers such as: Lidia Yuknavitch, Monica Drake, Chelsea Cain and Suzy
Vitello, and they are the first people to read anything he writes. Chuck is a vocal proponent of the minimalist writing style, and credits Tom Spanbauer and his mentor Gordon Lish as major influences, along with: Amy Hempel, Mark Richard, Denis Johnson, Thom Jones, Bret Easton Ellis and philosophers Michel Foucault and Albert Camus. In regards to his own writing, Chuck has stated that he writes each chapter of his novels as if they were a short story. He feels every one of his novels should be able to be condensed into a short story and still work. Chuck is also known for doing extensive research. He says that research is his favorite part of the writing process and is the fuel that drives his novels. He has been known to consume entire books and distil that information into a single descriptive line. He writes in public, spending hours people-watching as he does. If you have a passing conversation with Chuck on the street, there’s a good chance it ends up in one of his books. According to Chuck, “I am the combined efforts of everyone and everything I have ever known.” Palahniuk’s books and many of his works prior to Lullaby have distinct similarities. The characters are people who have been marginalized in one way or another by society, and often react with self-destructive aggressiveness. He labels these stories as a transgressional fiction. Beginning with Lullaby, the style of his novels changed to mostly satirical horror stories about the character outlook on life. The narratives of Palahniuk’s books often are structured in medias res, starting at the temporal end, with the protagonist recounting the events that led up to the point at which the book begins. Lullaby used a variation of this, alternating between the normal, linear narrative and the temporal end, after every few chapters. Exceptions to this narrative form, however, include the more linear Choke and Diary. Often a major plot twist exists that is revealed near the end of the book, which relates in some way to this temporal end — what Palahniuk refers to as “the hidden gun”. His more linear works also include similar plot twists. In what the author refers to as a minimalistic approach, his writings include a limited vocabulary and short sentences to mimic the way that an average person telling a story would speak and react.
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In an interview, Chuck has said that he “prefers to write in verbs instead of adjectives”. Repetitions of certain lines in the story narrative — what Palahniuk refers to as “choruses” — are one of the most common characteristics of his writing style, being dispersed within most chapters of his novels. Palahniuk has said that there also are some choruses between novels, noting that the color cornflower blue and the city of Missoula, Montana appear in many of his novels. The characters in Palahniuk’s stories often break into philosophical asides — either by the narrator to the reader, or spoken to the narrator through dialogue — offering numerous odd theories and opinions, often misanthropic or darkly absurdist in nature. Many of Palahniuk’s work touches on complex issues such as: death, morality, childhood, parenthood, sexuality, and a deity. When not writing fiction, Palahniuk tends to write short non-fiction works. Working as a freelance journalist, he writes essays and reports on a variety of subjects. He sometimes participates in the events about which he writes, which are heavy in field research. He also has written interviews with celebrities, namely, Juliette Lewis and Marilyn Manson. These works appear in various magazines and newspapers, such as the Los Angeles Times and Gear Magazine. Some of these writings have shown up in his book, Stranger than Fiction: True Stories.
Palahniuk also includes some non-fiction factoids within his fictional works and according to the author, these are included in order to further immerse the reader in his work. The content of Palahniuk’s works has earned him a reputation as a nihilist. Palahniuk however rejects this label, claiming he is a romantic, and that his works are mistakenly seen as nihilistic because they express ideas that others do not believe in. GIVING BACK It is always better to give than to receive. Chuck has used his experience and success to help his fellow writers. So far three of Chuck’s workshop peersChelsea Cain (Heartsick), Lidia Yuknavitch (The Chronology of Water), and Monica Drake (Clown Girl) — have gone on to successful writing careers of their own, due in part to Chuck’s assistance. In 2003, he wrote a blurb for the paperback edition of Craig Clevenger’s The Contortionist’s Handbook, and promoted it on tour as one of the best books he’d read in a decade, after which, awareness of Clevenger’s work skyrocketed. Chuck also enjoys giving back to his fans, and teaching the art of storytelling has been an important part of that. In 2004, Chuck began submitting essays to ChuckPalahniuk.net on the craft of writing. These were ‘How To’ pieces, straight out of Chuck’s
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personal bag of tricks, based on the tenants of minimalism he learned from Tom Spanbauer. Every month, a “Homework Assignment” would accompany the lesson, so Workshop members could apply what they had learned. Then, in 2009, Chuck increased his involvement by committing to read and review a selection of fan-written stories each month. He would then provide detailed feedback and criticism to aid in the revision process. The best stories are currently set to be published in Burnt Tongues, a forthcoming anthology, with an introduction written by Chuck Palahniuk himself.
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ONWARD It has been almost fifteen years since the landmark publication of Fight Club, and Chuck shows no signs of slowing down. He currently divides his time between two homes — one in Oregon and one in Washington State — both of which he shares with his partner of twenty years and their dogs. When he is not on tour, Chuck is constantly writing. According to a February 15, 2013 article in The Oregonian, Palahniuk has announced titles and release dates for his next three fiction works: Doomed was released on October 8, 2013, Beautiful You followed in October 2014, and Make Something Up is expected to be released in 2015. In 2013, it was announced that a graphic novel sequel to Fight Club was in the works. The 12-issue series is expected to be released in May 2015. In 2014, Palahniuk’s web site announced that James Franco bought the film options for his novel Rant: The Oral Biography of Buster Casey. Today, Palahniuk lives on a farm in Portland, Oregon with his partner — where he continues writing both fiction and nonfiction works. He socializes as much as possible, opening his home to friends and family. He likes to tend to his chickens when he is not writing, which is not very often. His novels keep him busy, taking anywhere from six weeks to four months to complete. When he is not crafting his fiction he enjoys writing articles and essays to express his strongly held and deeply considered views. He is a writer’s writer and he will do it until the day he dies.
SELECTED WORKS 1996
Fight Club
1999
Survivor
1999
Invisible Monsters
2001
Choke
2002
Lullaby
2003
Diary
2005
Haunted
2007
Rant
2008
Snuff
2009
Pygmy
2010
Tell-All
2011
Damned
2012
Invisible Monsters Remix
2013
Doomed
2014
Beautiful You
2015
Make Something Up
2015
Fight Club 2
CH UCK PALA HNIUK | G REAT WRITERS SERIES