With Extreme Prejudice: Chuck Palahniuk, 'Pygmy'

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THERE MAY BE NO beautiful and unique snowflakes in this world, but there is Chuck Palahniuk. With biting prose and a taste for sadism, the author of books including "Fight Club," "Lullaby" and "Choke" has left his acidic mark on the pop-culture consciousness of a generation. The subject matter might be brutal and the writing disjointed, but with packed readings and a fan following known as "the cult," it's hard to dispute that people believe in Palahniuk.

His latest novel, "Pygmy," explores the cultural prejudices and absurdity of excess in America through the eyes, and convoluted prose, of a 13-year-old exchange student sent to inflict mass murder on his host nation.

» EXPRESS: Where did the inspiration for "Pygmy" come from?
» PALAHNIUK: I was very attracted to the character who doesn't explain himself completely up front so that they become a cipher for the rest of people, or they become a projection of other people's worst fears or prejudices. ... Pygmy is just kind of the vehicle for his country's prejudices. He's showing up to absorb the prejudice of the U.S. while carrying the prejudice of where he comes from.

» EXPRESS: Are there prejudices or vices of our country you felt you had to include in the satire?
» PALAHNIUK: The big twist of the knife was that it seems like Americans are always either saying that we're the best country in the world, or they're saying that we're the worst country in the world. Either way, it's this constant self-obsession that I get really sick of. We constantly get bombarded by this hyper-
patriotism or this hyper-self-flagellation, and it's just self-obsessed, egotistical bull-----.

» EXPRESS: Why did you choose to construct or deconstruct the prose in the way you did?
» PALAHNIUK: It's a perennial way to get humor by misstating things, making them fresh again. It also keeps you in the immediacy of the story [referring to the perspective of the character Pygmy]. ... We make this elaborate baby talk to get around our inadequacies. And people get it. People eventually understand it ... even though it's foreign and absurdly elaborate.

» EXPRESS: Is there any subject matter that you won't write about?
» PALAHNIUK: I swore that I would never have a gratuitous scene where an animal is killed. ... Then I came up with the idea of the rat down the garbage disposal and what a horrible moment that would be for Pygmy as a child, and I thought that the ends justify the means for this heartbreaking, horrible moment.

» EXPRESS: What is writing for you?
» PALAHNIUK: It is still kind of my ongoing pastime, of occupying my mind. ... I can't control whether or not my flight is canceled, but I can control what Pygmy does. It keeps me sane.

» Borders, 5871 Crossroads Center Way, Falls Church.; Sat., 5 p.m., free; 703-998-0404.

Written by Express' Nathan Martin
Photo courtesy Shawn Grant