THE DARKNESS WITHIN US: POSTMODERN GOTHIC IN CHUCK PALAHNIUK’S FIGHT CLUB
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Abstract
The genre of postmodern gothic represents a postmodern incarnation of the traditional gothic genre and it includes traditional gothic elements although somewhat modified and upgraded. In essence, it represents a specific fusion between the gothic genre and postmodernist traits. In this paper, such reinvented gothic elements are discussed using the example of Chuck Palahniuk’s novel Fight Club. All the major gothic elements (such as the setting, the gothic hero and heroine, the doppelganger etc.) are depicted in this novel with particular stress on subjectivity and the element of terror since these are perhaps the biggest deviations from the traditional set of characteristics of the gothic genre. Furthermore, another theoretical framework appears to be of great significance for the interpretation of this novel – Baudrillard’s theory of hyperreality. The traditional gothic story is thus dislocated and belongs to a reality that is overtly estranged from the actual, factual reality, yet it does not necessarily belong to the realm of the supernatural either. With such unique fusion of different theoretical frameworks, Palahniuk’s novel serves as perhaps one of the best representatives of the postmodern gothic genre.
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