The Messianic Model of Subject Formation in Chuck Palahniuk's Novels “Survivor” and “Choke”
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.46991/BYSU.B/2026.17.3.050Keywords:
Palahniuk, messianic discourse, subject formation, postmodernism, identityAbstract
This article offers a new reading of Chuck Palahniuk’s philosophical vision through the analysis of the messianic model in his novels “Survivor” and “Choke”. It focuses on the formation of the subject amid a crisis of traditional authority, as religious, social, and familial structures no longer sustain a stable personal identity. The article shows that the messianic motif in Palahniuk’s fiction extends beyond religious themes, serving as a universal framework for understanding freedom, responsibility, and self-determination. A comparative reading of the two novels traces a shift in the textual representation of the sacred: from the publicly constructed figure of the prophet to the internal space of family memory, psychological dependency, and traumatic experience. The findings position “Survivor” and “Choke” as two stages in the development of Palahniuk’s concept of subjectivity, in which the search for autonomy is linked to a reconsideration of the symbolic mechanisms that shape the human self.
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