Chuck Palahniuk Biography and latest books by Chuck Palahniuk

Genres: Transgressional fiction, Satire, Horror, Literary movement Postmodernism, Minimalism
Notable work(s): Fight Club, Choke, Rant
Influences: Don DeLillo, Bret Easton Ellis, Amy Hempel, Denis Johnson, Thom Jones, Mark Richard, Tom Spanbauer, Ira Levin, Michel Foucault, Søren Kierkegaard, Albert Camus, Ken Kesey, Breece D\'J Pancake, Friedrich Nietzsche

Chuck Palahniuk is an American writer from Washington, most famous for his novel Fight Club, which was made into a 20th Century Fox movie going by the same name. 

Before he became a writer, he worked as an intern for a radio station,  wrote for the local newspaper for a short while, worked for Freightliner as a diesel mechanic writing manuals on fixing trucks, did volunteer work for a homeless shelter and at a hospice as an escort providing transportation for terminally ill people and brought them to support group meetings.

He began writing by his mid-thirties while attending writer’s workshops hosted by Tom Spanbauer.  He wrote his first book, Insomnia: If You Lived Here, You\'d Be Home Already, but never published it due to his own disappointment with it.  He wrote his second novel Invisible Monsters, but publishers found it too disturbing and it was rejected. In an attempt to further disturb the publishers for rejecting his work, he wrote the Fight Club. Palahniuk wrote this story in his spare time while working for Freightliner.  This was published as a short story first in the 1995 compilation Pursuit of Happiness. Palahniuk thn expanded it into a full novel, which—contrary to his expectations – the publisher was willing to publish.

Fight Club was published in 1996 and was received well by the critics and award juries. It received the Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association Award and the Best Novel from Oregon Book Award. Despite this, the book had a small shelf life. The release of David Fincher’s movie version of Fight Club starring Edward Norton and Brad Pitt in 1999 got mixed reactions from critics, but following the DVD release, Chuck Palahniuk rose to stardom and attained cult status. 

Since Fight Club he has published ten novels and three works of non-fiction.  He wrote the novel Lullaby in the year 1999 to cope with the decision he made to support his father’s murderer getting the death sentence.  This book was published in 2002 and won a nomination for the Bram Stoker Award and the Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association Award.

Palahniuk’s writing is typically minimalist. His story flows in conversations or as a person would narrate a story to some one, bit by bit, explaining and talking, in short jabs, bursting into a monologue here and there. As he himself says, he wants to tell stories using verbs and not adjectives.  His narrative wanders from the typical linear approach, swinging between first person and third person narration at times to temporal shifts in the story. He\'s also known to base hsi works on what he has seen or experienced in his life. The Project Mayhem in Fight Club is loosely based on his experiences from the Cacophony Society of which he was a member.

His writings have been criticized by some for being too gruesome, or disturbing while others find it to be very strong and powerful. It does what good writing is supposed to do-transport the reader from his environment into the story’s environment. He is your essential quote maker, coming up with sharp, witty one-liners that would stick with you long after you have put down the book.