Jean Baudrilliard’s Simulation and Simulacra in Chuck Palahniuk’s 'Survivor'

Seminar paper from the year 2011 in the subject American Studies - Literature, grade: 1,0, University of Würzburg (Neuphilologisches Institut), course: Masters of Transgressive Fiction: Ellis, Palahniuk and McCarthy, language: English, abstract: In Ferdinand de Saussure’s terms a sign always consists of a signifier, arbitrarily connected to a signified. Jean Baudrillard used Saussure’s structuralistic ideas as a base for his concepts of simulation and simulacra, artificial signs that have lost their connection to a real signified. This idea is a central pillar of his postmodern theory of sign systems and their relation to the real. It is a complex and revolutionary theory discussed by some as unscientific and overly generalized (Kellner, 1). Even if this were the case it can be used in interpreting contemporary postmodern literature such as Chuck Palahniuk’s works. Survivor, Palahniuk’s second novel, is peppered with appearances of simulacra and the concepts of simulation and hyperreality. And Palahniuk himself gives a direct hint which shows that he knows about Baudrillard’s ideas. On page 88 of Survivor Tender Branson states: “The signifier outlasts the signified, the symbol the symbolized.” (Palahniuk, 88) In this term paper I will give an overview of where and how Palahniuk uses Baudrillard’s concepts of simulation and simulacra in Survivor and how the reader could interpret these concepts and appearances in the context of his critique of consumer society. Beforehand I will summarize Baudrillard’s main concepts which are related to Survivor.