Arguing against the prevalent but mistaken notion that Tyler Durden is the mouthpiece of Chuck Palahniuk, this paper examines the underlying critique of politics that underlies Fight Club. It focuses in particular on how Palahniuk takes aim at an underlying fascism in contemporary society that has little to do with conventional definitions of left and right.
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Contemporary masculinity is a complex structure based on Michel Foucault's vision of the panopticon. Men are always both the guard and the prisoner at once. They perform as those around demand and simultaneously perpetuate that performance onto others. For men, there is no escape from this structure. Chuck Palahniuk's Fight Club offers insight into the psyche of contemporary, white men. The characters are men, caught up between two mutually exclusive performances of masculinity. They can only perform one type but must perform both. This paradox creates a split in the masculine self, literally embodied by Tyler and the narrator. This essay examines the nihilistic interpretation of contemporary masculinity portrayed in Fight Club and its effects on the self.
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Zbornik za jezike i književnosti Filozofskog fakulteta u Novom Sadu
