There Is No Life but Through Death:

Anarchists and nihilists have always revolted against the normality and approval of society. From anarchist musicians like Marilyn Manson, who preaches against conformity to nihilistic villains such as the Joker in The Dark Knight, the attitudes and beliefs of both unions are represented in today’s society through mainstream media. An author who represents the ideas and spirit of nihilists and anarchists in every aspect of his work is Chuck Palahniuk, a modern existentialist writer. His novels are dark satires full of sinister humor and casts of self destructive depraved characters that live on the fringes of society. Palahniuk’s novels are packed full of fantastically strange details and destructive factoids such as how to make bombs, how to make soap out of human fat, how to pick up shards of broken glass with a slice of bread, and how to get lipstick out of a collar. Elements like his sense of humor and clever irony allow him to put a modern twist on existentialism and separate him from other stern-faced existentialist writers such as Dostoevsky and Kafka. Palahniuk’s plots revolve around characters with an unestablished sense of self. His plots are often about the protagonist consciously creating themselves based on newfound beliefs and their actions based on those beliefs. They try to separate themselves from society to form a unique identity. They rarely end up happy or even remotely content, but one may consider that part of Palahniuk’s dark humor.
In his novels, Palahniuk also explores the acute sense of mortality obtained by the majority of people in today’s society and his personal fascination with death. The contrast between life and death plays a large role in Palahniuk’s novels both symbolically and thematically. Some of his characters view death as motivation to live whereas others are fascinated by death and anticipate it. In an interview with A.V. Club, Palahniuk answers the question “What is the meaning of life?” by saying, “Find joy in...