Fight Club is the first novel (with the possible exception of the hypertext Patchwork Girl) we've read that isn't normally classified as horror. From what we've discussed this semester, as well as your own observations while reading, what defines the horror genre? Does Fight Club fit with this paradigm of horror? If so, what makes it horror? If not, why not? And what genre, if any, would you label it?
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Like most genres these days, it is increasingly difficult to classify anything completely correct. For instance in music, there is heavy rock, punk rock, alternative rock, folk rock, alternative folk rock, edge rock, indie rock, pop rock, and the list goes on. Horror is not just ghost and monster tales in this generation. There is gore horror, technological horror, supernatural horror, philosophical horror, and so on. I suppose in the end, as long as horror remains to irk its readers it can be considered horror. I define “irk” as giving the reader something very strange that turns common sense and thought completely on its head. It has to be something intriguing that is not expected and makes the reader grossed out or disturbed when reading it. Irk. As for the music metaphor, as long as it rocks the audience, it’s rock. During this semester’s novels climbed from past to present in time it was increasingly obvious that horror can be different from the old sense of horror like in Turn of the Screw. Fight Club’s horror mainly came from a psychological horror. It irks when it is revealed that the narrator is Tyler. It does not seem to make much sense, because Tyler is visible to the narrator. It feels like everything from the beginning of the novel did not make sense anymore. For me, it was creepy the first time to realize this. Even more creepy, was the outlook on life Tyler had about trying to destroy it and the violence. In a way, this fits into gore horror and psychological horror. So if I must classify this book into a genre, I’d say its gorsychological horror.
Although Fight Club may not stereotypically belong in the horror genre, I certainly would classify it as a horror story. Most of the novels we have read, such as Turn of the Screw and Haunting of Hill House, contain classical examples of horror, such as ghosts and haunted houses. However, Fight Club includes no such elements. At the beginning of the semester when we read the article entitled, “Future Horror”, I remember it discussing the fact that what now makes a story horrifying is its connection to reality. Fight Club seems to be the most realistic of the novels we have read all semester, which makes it horrifying in my eyes to think that these events could actually occur. Adding to that point, violent events take place constantly throughout the book. The descriptive diction and amount of detail Palahniuk uses when illustrating these events creates horrifying and gruesome images. In addition, the narrator’s split personality creates a sense of horror, especially because throughout most of the book we are lead to believe the narrator and Tyler Durden are two separate individuals. Once this revelation has occurred, the story becomes horrifying to read as the narrator fights with his “other self” to destroy Tyler Durden. These examples of horrendous elements in the book, along with many others, clearly support Fight Club’s belonging in the horror genre.
. The horror genre is classified as horror because it arouses some type of fear or anxiety in its reader. The terror is usually caused by the addition of a supernatural or fantastical element. The novel Fight Club does not contain the traditional horror genre fundamentals such as the supernatural, immense fear and suspense. Fight Club does contain some horror genre characteristics like madness, isolation, lack of a paternal figure, and lack of mental stability. Most horror novels cause great terror in its readers where Fight Club lacks that element. I would not automatically classify Fight Club as fitting into this category. I associate horror fiction with ghosts, monsters, gore, and unexpected events which are not seen in Fight Club. The reason why I think that this novel fits partially into the horror genre is because of the main character’s madness while he searches for his identity. In all of the novels we have read this semester there has been some form of isolation leading to madness. Horror fiction authors use this as a form of terror because many readers are fearful of what the human mind can do which can often lead to madness. With madness being a key element of the horror genre, I can understand why Fight Club is seen as a type of horror novel.
For me, the horror genre is characterized by the abnormal and sometimes even the grotesque. Horror is especially when something you take comfort in has been completely twisted around and turned into a source of terror and danger. For example, in Fight Club, the narrator takes on another personality along with his own. Now just think about your mind, something you depend on daily for the simplest decisions and something that you trust implicitly. Imagine having your mind become twisted and confused enough to make another person out of you and you don’t even know it. In addition, imagine that your new friend that occupies the same body as you has a nasty violent streak. If such a loss of control ever happened to me, I would sure think that this was horror. However, when reading the novel, I didn’t get freaked out or creeped out even a little. This may be that due to society today, I am used to the idea of schizophrenia and multiple personality disorders because its awareness has become so mainstream. In addition, prior to reading the book, I had already seen the movie and I think this had a major impact on how I read the book. Because I already knew the fate of the narrator, I wasn’t really held in suspense as I may have originally been had I not seen the movie. Actually, of all the books that I read in this class, the only ones that really creeped me out or came close to it were the House of Leaves, Haunting of Hill House, and Patchwork Girl due to the unnatural nature of the houses and how nonchalantly body parts were spoken of in Patchwork Girl.
I think that if you wanted to make a claim for any novel being a horror, there could be an argument. I could imagine The Little Mermaid being called ‘horror,’ as someone could make a claim that marriage is like suffocating beneath the ocean. People find a way to make anything fit as long as they have evidence to support it. I think that with all of the footnotes in House of Leaves, Danielewski was illustrating the absurdity of the way that we do such a thing. So, yes, Fight Club could definitely be classified as ‘horror,’ but if someone were to ask what genre you would call it, I doubt that anyone would say such. I could see someone claiming that its horror because of the fear of a controlling society, the dangers of demolition, the mutilation of the body, etc. But in an initial response to what genre Fight Club is, I’d simply call it ‘fiction’ and had someone wanted a more specific title, I might classify it as ‘sociological.’ To me, horror is something that someone has never seen before, and is therefore shocking to witness. But Fight Club is written about a society that we live in, elements that I’ve been witnessing my entire life, and have critiqued similarly throughout my adolescence. Rather than scaring me in any way, I always feel inspired when reading or watching Fight Club. I don’t think that any horror novel would make me want to enter a dark forest or try to go insane, but with Fight Club, I feel like I want to enter its world, or at least change mine, rather than hide from anything.
Like everything else today, genre lines are fuzzy at best. Very few books or movies fall in to a specific category. While we can easily identify movies in broader categories (‘chick flick’), it is nearly impossibly to classify them further. Take the example of a ‘chick flick’ from above. While most people can get the basic idea of a movie from that incredibly vague description, chick flicks genres range from romance, to comedy, to drama and beyond. It seems that the modern trend is actually to blend or include as many genres as possible in a given story to appeal to the widest audience or readership possible. Based on what we have discussed in class and my opinion, I think that something can be classified as ‘horror’ the instant it provokes some sort of anxiety or negative emotions in a reader/viewer. Based on that, Fight Club would certainly qualify as horror due to its primitive and negative outlook and perspective on life, society, and humanity, but like many modern horror novels, after examining the story, the radical and destructive ideas presented in the novel are clearly fictional and would never be allowed in modern society. Even so, the deep uncomfortably that the book provides is difficult to ignore.
In response to general: I concur that the horror genre and genres in general are rather fuzzy. However, I think there is a limitation on what you can deem horror. For klivera’s example of “Little Mermaid,” I think that unlike the novels we read the “Little Mermaid” already starts off as something unbelievable. This is more fantasy and most likely wouldn’t even be considered horror. I agree that you could make an argument for pretty much anything; however, horror genre at the very least will give a sense of it being disturbing in someway. If something starts off unbelievable, it loses this ability to become disturbing because it is already too fantastic.
The horror genre is defined by a few basic elements: instilling fear in the reader, unanswered questions, monstrosity, and themes of isolation and question identity. Although these elements can be found in almost every other genre, their combination is what sets horror literature apart from other literature. Fight Club has some of these elements but at the same time can be more appropriately matched with another literary genre. Palahniuk’s message about society and gender roles serves more of a didactic purpose than an entertainment purpose. In this sense, Fight Club is better categorized as a satire. But Fight Club does contain some elements of the horror genre such as isolation, question identity, and monstrosity. These elements are arranged in such a way as to provide a clear message to the reader about the society in which we live. Another important feature of satire that isn’t always necessary in horror is the contemporary setting. Horror novels can take place hundreds of years ago or hundreds of years in the future and still serve the same purpose: to scare. Satire on the other hand serves to criticize the current state of things, most commonly in society. Fight Club uses horror as a vehicle to convey the message of a necessary change that needs to be made. Palahniuk’s novel was successful in conveying this message to at least me.
In response to Priyaa: I agree with abnormality being a big part of the horror genre. In the books that we’ve read, something has always been off either about the characters themselves or the settings they are in. Fight Club puts a modern-day spin on the abnormality factor by introducing a mental illness as the source of horror. But as she said, this abnormality is slightly more believable as we are exposed to such cases of mental illness everyday. I think this was Palahniuk’s way of pegging a reason for the events in the book without making that the focal point of the entire story. Danielewski’s novel was about the house and how the characters reacted to it. Palahniuk’s novel is about the characters and how his mental condition affects him.
I agree with Sara categorization of Fight Club as a satire. I find it more fitting to call it such, rather than horror, though it could still be. Fight Cluib seems to use horror, but within another genre, being satire. It reminds me of comedies and satires such as Space Balls, with uses science fiction within its foundation, but I wouldn't classify it as science fiction. Upon a first response, I think that everyone would agree that its a satirical comedy, with a science fiction background. The creativity within literature shows how novels don't need to be completely one genre. Their ingenuity comes with combining many.
Based on what we have read and discussed throughout the semester, my feeling is that the horror genre comprises anything that is terrifying or traumatic to people because they fear it and believe that it could be potentially real. The first books that we read were more in line with the classic, gothic style of horror, complete with ghosts and haunted houses. House of leaves, though still modern, did have some of those same elements of horror in them, especially with the house. Naturally, all three of these books are classified as fitting the horror genre.
The problem is that what is scary to some is not necessarily scary to all so literature, such as Fight Club, may be scary to some readers, and may fit our discussion of horror in this class, but is not officially considered a work of horror. In my opinion, though, Fight Club, should fall into the horror category. It is more of a mentally horrifying story, as it deals with some psychological issues that are deeper than many of those in the other books we read. This psychological horror is certainly terrifying and traumatic as it deals with real life issues that the reader must recognize could befall their own life.
To me, horror can best be described as an unexpected event that causes fear and/or anxiety in people. Usually, horror is thought of as a feeling caused by shocking and scary events (ghosts, monsters, etc.). In the case of Fight Club, there are no monsters. But it fits my description of horror because Tyler and the narrator were basically trying to bring the world, as we’ve become accustomed to, to an end. Their method of trying to change society is unethical and communist. By not giving people the choice of living or dying, people become scared which adds to the horrific events of Fight Club. The shear thought of ending the world can cause panic and lead people to do things that they would never do. Also, the fact that the reader knows that there’s a group of guys wearing all black, going around threatening peoples lives is horrific because it’s something that could happen. As a matter effect, groups similar to Project Mayhem already roam the streets of America. We like to call them gangs. It’s also horrific in that it makes people paranoid as to what can change or possibly end their lives. Basically, the affects of Tyler and the narrator’s actions are what is considered horrific in the book.
In response to Kelli Covington:
When I began writing my response, I also did not consider Fight Club to be a horror novel because there were no monsters or ghosts. But then I started thinking about movies like Saw that force people to do things that makes them reflect on their lives but in unethical manners. I think Fight Club and movies of that nature go hand in hand in considering them horror because the affect they have on people causes fear and we know that things like that could happen to anybody because people are “mad”. I agree that the book has more horrific elements in it more like the books we read earlier in the semester, but reading it made me re-evaluate what I consider horrific.
Fight Club contains some elements of traditional horror in the sense that there is gore and violence, however that is where the similarities stop. Fight Club comes off as a much more frightening text because of the reality of the fiction. It described perfectly in Future Horror where the author explained that the horror is not in gruesome monsters, rather it is in events that can actually happen. I don’t know about you, but I am tempted to experiment with lye and see what a chemical burn is. The way Palahniuk explained everything into such detail with explosives and chemicals was rather fascinating. The realistic features of Fight Club made it very believable and brought with it a sense of fear. This was the first novel that we read that really had the sense of future horror in it. Having an identity crisis is not really on my list of things to do, but upon reading fight club, it makes me wonder about some things. What would happen if I suddenly came down with insomnia and found my life meaningless? I honestly don’t know. What I do know is that I am planning on living a life similar to that of the narrator’s; that is in reference to having a nice car, apartment, and family. I just really hope that once I reach that point I will be satisfied. I really hope that my life won’t seem meaningless once I reach my goal after years of hard work.
In response to Caroline:
I really agree with the idea of "Future Horror" and the fact that the split personality is horrifying. Fight Club really makes you wonder if people actually go through life like that and are that emotionally distraught that they fabricate a second life for themselves. With the subtle hints throughout the course of the novel that they might be one person, it began to develop the terror. I really think that once he came to the revelation was when it got really interesting and terrifying.
There is definitely no other place for Fight Club other than the horror genre and this was solidified by the revelation at the end.
From reading this semester I truly learned that the horror genre is not at all what I expected or usually would classify as horror. Before this class I considered horror to be blood, death, and the supernatural. I looked at horror as something to be truly scary to me or just horrifying by the looks of it. However, after reading different novels and analyzing the literature I learned that horror can have many different faces. Horror can be found in nothingness, death, ghosts, blood, isolation, psychological disorders, or in unique situations. It was interesting to look at horror in a different light this semester and find the horror in something I would never have originally found to be horrifying. As far as Fight Club goes, I think it fits into the horror genre. Since there is a lot dealing with blood, fights, and blowing things up there is the common horror element. However, I learned to look past that as well and find something that relates more to me. Since I don’t fight or see fight club ever being a realistic thing, I find horror in his disorder. I think psychological disorders are a scary and real thing so I found the horror of the novel in that aspect. I also definitely think it also fits in with pure entertainment but that may be biased since I saw it as a movie before I read it as a novel.
I agree with a lot of the comments posted thus far saying that horror can be defined as something that “irks” you or creates some type of fear within you. We all definitely have different ideas about horror and the genre. It is interesting to see that most people did learn through this class to look at horror on a larger spectrum. I thought Priyaa’s comment about the brain and how it makes such simple everyday decisions can be twisted into this being like Fight Club. That is truly horrifying! I also agree that seeing the movie before reading the novel makes a big impact on Fight Club. If you already know the ending of course its much less suspenseful and scary, similar to seeing the Sixth Sense if you already know the ending. I also have the same opinion with the many people who said genre lines are very broad. I didn’t think about that at all when I was originally answering this question so I think that does play a big role in why horror can be classified so differently depending on the novel. There are so many books and movies that can really go into many different genres including horror. Overall, most of the comments approached Fight Club as a type of horror novel. Maybe it was more horrifying to some but it was obvious to see why it fit into the horror genre especially after analyzing all of the text we did throughout this semester.
At the beginning of the semester my idea of what was defined as horror was completely different from the idea of contemporary horror I now have in my mind. While gothic horrors and the horror novels of the early and mid 1900’s were definitely centered this idea of a ghastly antagonist, today’s contemporary horror novel is so far from that. Fight Club does a good job of fulfilling what in my mind is today’s horror. I see modern horror novels as being ones exploring the depths and descent into insanity, the horror of ambiguity, and novels completely written outside of the bounds of traditional reads. Fight Club falls perfectly into today’s modern horror novel, in detail describing the horror of realizing ones own bipolar disorder, and their split personalities desire to completely destroy society. Using Fight Club as a marker for the modern horror we see other stories such as House of Leaves and Patchwork Girl completely pick up where Fight Club leaves off in pushing the boundaries for modern horror. These two novels follow somewhat similar guidelines to Fight Club; extremely unconventional ways of laying out novels, ambiguity, exploring the horror of the psyche. All these are exactly what Fight Club examines, showing that, yes, it is a shining and classic example of a horror novel.
Ben Farias
Horror is something that deals with causing freight or suspense in a person. Past novels that we have read in class use ghosts, monsters and haunted houses to give the audience a sense of fear. Palahniuk’s Fight Club does not use things such as haunted houses to scare people; on the other hand Fight Club is the novel that seems the most real and capable of occurring. The kind of horror that is incorporated into Palahniuk’s novel is lack of trust in the narrator, for there is a split persona. I believe that horror is different depending on the person. For instance something that scares me might not scare other people. This is what makes horror itself vary. Not trusting the narrator causes some sense of suspense in what will happen therefore causing some fear to be felt. The difference between this novel and past read novels is the fact that the setting takes place in recent years. Although Fight Club does not incorporate scary figures it is mentally horrifying and gruesome. The amount of violence that there is in the novel can be frightening for several of those events can actually happen to certain individuals. A good balance between fantasy and reality is what makes a story believable therefore giving the audience a greater sense of fear for the events that occurred in the novel can actually happen in ones own life. Fight Club is very realistic therefore all the insanity and craziness can be interpreted as horror for each individual fears what can happen to them.
In response aszeto’s comment, I fully agree with the fact that horror is determined by each individual. When dealing with Disney movies, there are some movies that cause fear in children. This also shows how the definition of horror is based also on the age group that is reading a book or watching a movie. Kids in most cases don’t recognize what is too fantastic from what can actually occur, therefore they are frightened more easily and create their own standards for what is horror to them.
Karen Esquives
As in one of the short essays we read earlier in the semester, the horror genre is presently changing. Today, people aren’t afraid of traditional horror stereotypes like mummies and zombies in haunted houses, such as those in The Turn of the Screw and The Haunting of Hill House, because reality can be more frightful. Fight Club is a horror novel in this modern day way. Everything that happens in Fight Club is possible in the world we live in today, so that is what makes it horrifying. Even though it is not likely, someone with severe split personality disorder could start one fight club, the one could spread across the country, begin Project Mayhem, recruit willing volunteers to make soap out of dead peoples’ fat, and have these volunteers live in their own little society. If this happened in real life, people would be terrified and in fear of their lives. Split personality disorder is disturbing enough in itself. If someone who doesn’t know he has a split personality decided to change the society we live in, it would definitely be a scary situation. Nothing about the novel is supernatural or fantastical, unbelievable yes, but not completely impossible. So Fight Club doesn’t belong in the genre of traditional horror, but it does belong in the genre of modern horror.
It is very difficult to define horror as a specific, narrow genre because horror is usually thought of something that incites fear in its audience, which could be anything depending on the person’s personal fears. In our earlier novels, horror came from haunted houses, ghosts and strange noises. The fear was caused by these things and if not the suspense leading up to them. These are the typical features used in horror film and literature. In the later novels, House of Leaves and Fight Club, horror came from isolation, uncertainty and relationship issues. Both the main characters, Navidson and the narrator, didn’t grow up with a strong parental figure. I think the themes in the later novels relate to the horror of contemporary times. Hundreds of years ago, people were really superstitious and were afraid of ghosts and haunted house. That so much isn’t the case now. Now people fear real life threats, like a missing parent or being alone. So I would still consider Fight Club to be in the horror genre. Fight Club represents the horrors of today: men feeling insufficient and insecure in their jobs, women getting plastic surgery, and the parents abandoning their children.
In response to mattb:
I don't think that an author writes with the intention of including their book in one particular genre or another. I think that the story and the writing come first and then the classification. I think that the more writing there is available readers, the more that the lines between different genres become blurred. The horror genre is definitely broadening as critics, and readers like us, consider more unusual and untraditional books as horror but I don't necessarily think that is a bad thing. It only encourages more people to read such books.
Blog 10: The Horror of Fight Club
Fight Club is the first novel (with the possible exception of the hypertext Patchwork Girl) we've read that isn't normally classified as horror. From what we've discussed this semester, as well as your own observations while reading, what defines the horror genre? Does Fight Club fit with this paradigm of horror? If so, what makes it horror? If not, why not? And what genre, if any, would you label
The Horror genre for books is difficult to narrow down and title exactly. I would have to say that for literature, horror is anything that has a certain level of society that rejects what's going on or a character in the novel forbeing what it doesn't like. I also think that horror in books is based on what is unknown or the threat of insanity and a character's struggle with these things. IN this case Fight Club is a horror novel. A new society that fights against the one already establish is built up, and spreads everywhere like a disease. The element of the Narrator having this other personality that ends up threatening him, and makes him do things he doesn't want to do also adds to the horror. The fact that other don't see two separate beings but one, Tyler, adds to the horror for the Narrator. I know I'd be scared if I found out that someone like Tyler was my alternate personality. The threat of that instanity sparking in the readers definately makes Fight Club belong to the horror genre.
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