Last we heard of Chuck Pahlniuk Palhniuk Palahniuk he was touring the globe reading that story, the one that supposedly made people pass out. I'm sure he's still adding to his running tally of victims, but tonight he's actually participating in the Distinguished Lecture Series at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Prior to that engagement, he was interviewed by the school's paper,* and the only thing of interest in the piece is Chuck's answer to a strange question about the possibility of there being an "underground explosion in literature" as a reaction to the growing nature of globalized media:
I think that there will be, and it's not just my opinion. The Wall Street Journal had done some pieces a couple years ago about how the new status object, the new status pastime for younger generations had become reading, being seen with certain books-and writing, because readers eventually become writers. So I have to wonder if writing isn't going to be the next MTV, the next popular media for the next generation, if we're going to see this explosion in short stories and in novels eventually. It's been a neglected little wasteland. So few people read and pay attention to books, and yet books are really a fantastic gateway for people to get a vision of the world. Books require so little capital to create and distribute, so I have to think books are due for a big comeback.
Chuck's next book, Haunted, a novel made up of "twenty-three of the most horrifying, hilarious, mind-blowing, stomach-churning tales you'll ever encounter," will hit shelves on May 17th.
*May require registration.
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