"Every other form of entertainment, and every other form of media, has evolved to become more interesting, compelling and engaging. Somehow, books and book people feel that they have to cling to this 19th century form ... It's frustrating."

The name Chuck Palahniuk has become synonymous with modern American satire. Novels like "Choke" and "Survivor" have given literature an edge that has been sorely lacking throughout the years.

Blasting onto the literary scene over a decade ago with his aria to consumerism, "Fight Club" became one of the defining novels of the '90s. Ten years and 10 books later, The Post sat down with Chuck Palahniuk to discuss his past, present and future.

POST: When did you decide that you wanted to become a writer?

CHUCK PALAHNIUK: I wanted to write when I was in fifth grade. I had a teacher that really encouraged me. But it wasn't until 1991, when I bought a little house outside of Portland. I moved into this 300 square-foot house, and found out that it didn't have any TV or radio reception. So I was stuck without the two, and books were all I had to do. I couldn't find any books to read, so I decided to start writing.

POST: You've lived in the Pacific Northwest for a majority of your life -- how has your environment affected you as a writer?

CP: It rains a lot on this side of the state. The rain always makes it OK to be indoors with people talking, or reading, or doing research. The environment supports a lot more writing than, say, Arizona, where I probably wouldn't write a word.

POST: Who were some of your literary inspirations growing up?

CP: Kurt Vonnegut really was. Ray Bradbury, definitely. And, of all people, Erma Bombeck. Damn, I just thought she was so funny. She can write such funny things about really dark stuff. The way she tackled the suburbs and alcoholism and gender politics that we take way too serious now, she can write about in a really funny way and make us laugh. She was so much more effective in dealing with those issues than all of the kinds of hand-wringing that we do now.

POST: Take us through your typical day of writing.

CP: I don't write in big chunks. I wrote "Fight Club" while I was working full time. My goal was to just try and get one sentence a day. That's why "Fight Club" has so many single-sentence paragraphs: Each one represents a day of work. I just felt that if I could pay the bills and do my job and have clean clothes, while still writing a sentence, then that was enough. I hold out for one compelling detail, or one great phrase that I hear, and that might be all the writing I do in a day.

POST: Do you tackle multiple projects at once, or just concentrate on a singular idea?

CP: I pretty much stick with it and get it done, so that I can really focus on the next thing. It makes it really easy to declare one project complete when you are already excited about the next one. My dad always said, "Don't break up with one girl until you“re already dating the next." It works for writing as well.

POST: Your new novel, "Rant," hit stores last week. What can you tell us about it?

CP: It's an oral history compiled from hundreds of interviews with people who knew the title character. He's a reinvented, modern day Huckleberry Finn. He moves from a small town to a big city, where he gets caught up in the kinds of activities that I'm always writing about. In this case, it's what they call "party crashing," which is a consensual, public demolition derby.

POST: Have you ever considered revisiting characters from your past novels?

CP: So far, no. But for "Rant," I plan on doing that. There are going to be three "Rant" books, with different books in between them that are unrelated.

POST: How did you decide to use short stories as a narrative vehicle in "Haunted?"

CP: I just wanted to do a book of short stories, but my editor told me that books of short stories don't sell very well. So they asked me to include a framing device that allowed me to include the stories I wanted to tell. The thing I love about short stories is that you can do so much with so little.

POST: There have been rumors that while doing public readings of your story "Guts," dozens of people have fainted. Can you clarify this?

CP: It is way over a hundred now, but I quit counting at 71. The only places where no one fainted were Madison, Wisconsin and Manchester, England.

POST: Do you read your own reviews?

CP: No, reviews just don't do any good. They either get you really high, or really pissed off, and they're not the reason you do this for a living.

POST: What did you think of David Fincher's adaptation of "Fight Club," and film adaptations as a whole?

CP: It was really one of the best adaptations I've ever seen. Adaptations tend to work best with well-plotted texts that move quickly, like "The Stepford Wives" or "Rosemary“s Baby." As far as my other books go, "Choke" starts filming in June with Sam Rockwell. I couldn't have even dreamt of that casting.

POST: What do you feel about the current state of literature?

CP: Every other form of entertainment, and every other form of media has evolved to become more interesting, compelling, and engaging. Somehow, books and book people feel that they have to cling to this 19th century form, when books were the dominant form of narrative.

It's frustrating, because imagine if the film world had seized on "Gone With the Wind," and all films after had to be just like it and could not vary from that ideal. So I'd like to see books move from that 19th century ideal, and play to what their strengths really are.

POST: So would you say the burden lies with the writer or the consumer?

CP: Definitely the writer. You know, there are people who say that young people don't read because they're idiots. I say that's ridiculous. Young people are the smartest audience that has ever existed on this planet, and books are failing them.

People are not failing to read because they're stupid, but rather because books adhere to this 19th century ideal that no longer appeals to young readers. Readers are smarter than books now. We've spent so much time being told stories by television and movies, and books are just going to have to catch up.

> Comments