CHUCK PALAHNIUK’S FIGHT CLUB UNDER A DIFFERENT LENS: PRESSURES ON THE MALE BODY IN COMMUNITY AND THE QUESTION OF MASCULINITY

Abstract

The present paper aims to analyse Chuck Palahniuk’s first novel Fight Club (1996) from a different viewpoint, i.e., the communitarian theories perspective. In order to enrich this study, this field will be interconnected with gender studies, specifically on men’s studies and the field of masculinities. The novel describes the formation of the symbolically saturated community of “fight club” whose members are obsessed with an absent paternal figure, including the protagonist. However, his existential crisis will be solved thanks to his encounter with Marla Singer. In that encounter Tyler Durden will have a fundamental role to play: he will act as a catalyst figure, filtering all the saturated symbolisms that limit the main character’s essentialist masculine identity. As a result, the protagonist will be able to meet the main female protagonist, Marla Singer, in an inorganic encounter, where they will be able to expose each other’s individualities in a meaningful way.