VJ Books presents Chuck Palahniuk! Chuck Palahniuk was born in Pasco, Washington, and grew up living in a mobile home in nearby Burbank with his family. His parents later separated and divorced, often leaving him and his three siblings to live with their grandparents at their cattle ranch in Eastern Washington.
In his twenties, Palahniuk attended the University of Oregon's School of Journalism, graduating in 1986. While attending college he worked as an intern for National Public Radio member station KLCC in Eugene, Oregon. He moved to Portland soon afterwards. After writing for the local newspaper for a short while, he began working for Freightliner as a diesel mechanic, continuing in that job until his writing career took off. During that time, he also wrote manuals on fixing trucks and had a stint as a journalist (a job he did not return to until after he became a successful novelist). Wanting to do more with his life than just his job, Palahniuk did volunteer work for a homeless shelter. Later, he also volunteered at a hospice as an escort; he provided transportation for terminally ill people and brought them to support group meetings. He ceased volunteering upon the death of a patient to whom he had grown attached.
Palahniuk would also become a member of the rebellious Cacophony Society in his adulthood. He is a regular participant in their events, including the annual Santa Rampage (a public Christmas party involving pranks and drunkenness) in Portland. His participation in the Society inspired some of the events in his writings, both fictional and non-fictional. Most notably, he used the Cacophony Society as the basis for Project Mayhem in Fight Club.
Palahniuk began writing fiction in his mid-thirties. His first book, Insomnia: If You Lived Here, You'd Be Home Already, never was adapted due to his disappointment with the story (though a small part of it was later salvaged for use in Fight Club). When he attempted to publish his next novel, Invisible Monsters, publishers rejected it for its disturbing content. This led him to work on his most famous novel, Fight Club, which he wrote as an attempt to disturb the publisher even more for rejecting him. "Fight Club" which was later made into a film by 20th Century Fox. He went on to gain popularity as his later novels which include Survivor, Invisible Monsters, Choke, Lullaby, and Haunted. More recently (2003) he has written a travel book about his hometown Portland, Oregon entitled "Fugitives & Refugees”, followed by Rant. His latest book is Pygmy.
How do you pronounce Palahniuk? PAUL-AH-NIK, (Paula Nick). The story goes that Chuck's Grandparents decided to pronounce their name as a combination on their two first names, Paula and Nick. As Chuck relates it: “So many Palahniuks drop letters from the name. We kept all the letter's but we probably say it the worst." The 'Old World' pronunciation is PAH-la-NYOOK.
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