US author Chuck Palahniuk, best known for the cult novel Fight Club, said the September 11 attacks marked a major turning point in American literature. “After 9/11, the novels we wrote began to be seen as terrorism. From that point on, boundary-pushing fiction largely came to an end,” Palahniuk said.
Speaking to Spanish newspaper El País, the 64-year-old author reflected on his writing career, his upcoming projects and the 30th anniversary of the publication of Fight Club.
Palahniuk rose to international fame with Fight Club, published in 1996 and adapted for the screen three years later by director David Fincher. He said he continues to lead a quiet life, living in an isolated house surrounded by forests near Portland. The author said he has not taken a vacation in many years, adding, “I like being at home.”
New novel due in 2027
Palahniuk is currently working on Galleria, his next novel, which is scheduled for publication in January 2027. A Spanish edition of his latest novel, Shock Induction, has recently been released.
He described Galleria as a tribute to Kilgore Trout, the science-fiction character created by American writer Kurt Vonnegut. The novel follows a 19-year-old son who tries to understand his father, a writer who used hundreds of pseudonyms, through the works he left behind.
Palahniuk, who said he does not have children, described his novels as “the children I never had.” He said writing allows him to revisit events from his past and explore different possibilities.
His father’s murder found its way into his fiction
Palahniuk also spoke about his difficult relationship with his father during childhood. He recalled that his father, with whom he had reconnected following the success of Fight Club, was murdered in 1999 along with the woman he was dating.
The author said he indirectly incorporated the trauma into his 2002 novel Lullaby.
“Horror is the last genre that still allows us to push boundaries”
Palahniuk argued that the kind of “boundary-pushing fiction” associated with writers such as himself and Bret Easton Ellis, as well as television producer Ryan Murphy, largely disappeared following the September 11 attacks.
“After 9/11, my novels began to be viewed as terrorism,” he said, arguing that horror is now the only literary and narrative genre that can continue to engage in social criticism.
According to Palahniuk, horror can both reflect social problems and criticize them.
He compared Trump’s handshake to a hypnotic technique
Palahniuk said hypnosis is at the center of his latest novel, Shock Induction, explaining that he has been interested in the subject for many years.
He also interpreted US President Donald Trump’s distinctive handshake through this lens, arguing that Trump’s tendency to pull the person he is greeting toward himself resembles a hypnosis technique known as “shock induction.”
Asked whether he believes “the world is now being governed entirely through a doctrine of shock,” the author gave a brief answer: “Yes.”
“A novel should stay in your memory like a song”
Three decades after the publication of Fight Club, Palahniuk said readers still quote the novel’s famous “rules” to him. He attributed their lasting impact to the book’s repetitive structure.
Saying he misses the long-form storytelling found in songs from the 1970s, the author argued that prose should also be capable of staying in the memory like a song.
“Why shouldn’t novels be written like songs that people will remember for years?” he asked.
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