Chuck Palahniuk Parodist

<p> Chuck Palahniuk America's premier transgressive novelist enjoys a tremendous readership. Yet he has not necessarily been embraced by critics or academics. His prose is considered vulgar by some but his body of work addresses a core motivation of 21st-century life: individual self-empowerment. Palahniuk writes about what it means to be on the outside looking in revising familiar narratives for a contemporary audience to get at the heart of the human condition--everyone wants a chance to win his or her fair share no matter the cost.</p><p> In <I>Haunted</I> <I>Snuff</I> <I>Pygmy</I> <I>Tell-All</I> <I>Damned</I> and <I>Invisible Monsters Remix</I> he confronts marginalization and disenfranchisement through parodies of various works--<I>The Decameron</I> <I>The Inferno</I> <I>Are You There God? It's Me Margaret</I> <I>The Elephant Man</I>--as well as Hollywood history 1970s karate films and the porn industry. This comprehensive study of six novels refutes criticism that Palahniuk's goals are to shock and sensationalize.</p>