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Examination Thesis from the year 2009 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies - Literature, grade: 1,5, University of Heidelberg, language: English, abstract: "Art has always reflected society. [...] Fight Club examines
violence and the roots of frustration that are causing people to
reach out for such radical solutions. And that's exactly the sort
of discussion we should be having about our culture. Because a
culture that doesn't examine its violence is a culture in denial,
which is much more dangerous."
This assessment of Fight Club by Edward Norton, who plays the narrator in the novel's movie adaptation, explains the reasoning behind this thesis, which examines the basic principles of today's consumer culture, its connection to aggression and violence, and the way these topics are presented in two contemporary novels: Bret Easton Ellis's American Psycho
and Chuck Palahniuk's Fight Club.
In these books, the respective protagonists face similar deadlocks
connected to life in the consumerist world of the 1980s and 1990s. Despite, evidently, having everything a person could ask for, both main characters' lives remain unfulfilled, leaving them frustrated and dissatisfied. As it turns out, acts of violence become the only thing that lets them get away from the
boredom of their daily routine and gives them a sense of satisfaction.
About the author
Michael Frank, 1947 im gebirgigsten Oberbayern geboren, ist über die Deutsche Journalistenschule in München zu seiner Profession und später zur "Süddeutschen Zeitung" gekommen, für die er als Nachrichtenredakteur, als Kritiker und Berichterstatter unter anderem über Entwicklungspolitik gearbeitet hat. Das alte, engere Mitteleuropa erschloss sich ihm als eine der Schicksalsregionen des Kontinents, die er seit 1986 als Auslandskorrespondent beobachtet, wechselweise mit Sitz in Prag und Wien. Er wurde mit dem Joseph-Roth-Preis und der 'Goldenen Feder' für die deutsch-tschechische Verständigung ausgezeichnet.
