DIVINE VIOLENCE AND ITS MANIFESTATIONS IN CHUCK PALAHNIUK’S „FIGHT CLUB“

Abstract

This paper deals with Walter Benjamin’s concept of divine violence and its manifestations in Chuck Palahniuk’s novel Fight Club. In the introductory part of the paper, we focus on various thinkers’ writings on divine violence. We start with Benjamin’s original conception, and then connect it to Peg Birmingham’s understanding of Hannah Arendt’s power and its relationship to divine violence, as well as Slavoj Žižek’s interpretation of divine violence. After that, we formulate a comprehensive definition of divine violence. In the next part, we focus on various instances of divine violence in Chuck Palahniuk’s Fight Club. We analyse the novel and decide whether or not, and to what degree the committed acts of violence, as well as other behaviours of characters, meet the criteria for divine violence.