Ch. Palahniuk’s Novel «Fight Club» in Terms of F. Nietzsche’s Philosophy of Nihilism

Abstract

Based on the material of Ch. Palahniuk’s novel «Fight Club», the article examines the nihilistic predestination of the antihero’s split personality, taking into account F. Nietzsche’s conception. The aim of the study is to prove that the anonymous narrator and the character of Tyler Durden’s images, symbolizing two fragments of the antihero’s personality, manifest the passive and active nihilistic position, respectively. The research is carried out in the format of the comparative approach, which is aimed at identifying the features of Ch. Palahniuk’s creative reception of Nietzsche’s nihilistic ideas, parallels in their metaphysical worlds. The study showed that in order to highlight the process of disintegration of postmodern reality, Ch. Palahniuk uses the main provisions of Nietzsche’s philosophy of nihilism. The novel is interpreted in terms of F. Nietzsche’s philosophy, since it systematically reveals all aspects of nihilism. The characters’ images are based on the theory of religious, radical and complete nihilism. The concept of nihilism is explicated at the personal, psychological and sociological level of the narrative. Personal and psychological levels are combined in order to create images of religious, radical (active and passive) and complete nihilists. The narrator is a religious nihilist, and as the narrative unfolds, his passive nihilistic position increases. Tyler Durden, the antipode of the narrator’s split personality, turns out to be a complete nihilist. It is concluded that the combination of both fragments of the antihero’s personality forms the image of a radical nihilist who does not reach the stage of complete denial of higher values. The society reproduced in the text of the novel, based on the Christian-Platonic cultural tradition, suffers from religious nihilism. The narrative explicates Nietzsche’s principle of deconstruction in the direction of reconstruction. F. Nietzsche’s views of the complete nihilism as a project of superman are being realized. The superhuman spirit that Tyler possesses pushes his will to power to destroy civilization and instill faith in other characters in their will to power in order to achieve their aspirations, freedom from history, culture and the higher values that control them.