Arts & Culture

Cult Favorite Chuck Palahniuk Talks About His New Novel Pygmy

By Maureen Cavanaugh / KPBS Midday Edition Co-Host, Angela Carone / Cultural Enterprise Reporter

Published May 5, 2009 at 12:47 PM PDT

This story was published more than 15 years ago.

Cult Favorite Chuck Palahniuk Talks About His New Novel Pygmy

Chuck Palahniuk's tenth novel is a biting cultural satire narrated by Pygmy, a 13-year-old terrorist who has infiltrated the US disguised as a foreign exchange student. Written as a series of dispatches from Pygmy, the prose doesn't follow grammatical rules or sentence structure, but includes Palahniuk's propensity to push the boundaries.

Maureen Cavanaugh: A very angry 13-year old foreign-exchange student who is really a "whack-bang" deadly foreign operative from a totalitarian state finds himself imbedded with a Midwestern host family. There he thinks about and commits aggressively violent acts, including an unspecified terrorism plot - all while writing a diary in broken English.

Sounds a little like a Chuck Palahniuk novel. Actually, it is a Chuck Palahniuk novel. The author who developed a cult following with his first novel Fight Club is now out with his tenth book called Pygmy. It employs an experimental writing style, some deeply disturbing material and a sharp satirical edge. Writer Chuck Palahniuk is on the line with us this morning, to talk about his new book Pygmy.

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Guest:

Chuck Palahniuk is the author of 10 novels, including his latest, which is titled Pygmy. His novels Fight Club and Choke have been turned into feature films and all of his other novels have been optioned for film. His legendary readings and cult-like fan base have made Palahniuk into something of a literary icon.

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Maureen Cavanaugh

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Maureen Cavanaugh has been a familiar voice for KPBS listeners for more than 15 years, serving in a variety of capacities including announcer, host, and producer. As host of KPBS Midday Edition, Maureen has interviewed a wide range of notables, such as comedienne Sandra Bernhardt, actor John Lequizamo, author Chuck Palahniuk, composer Marvin Hamlisch, artist Robert Irwin, and designer Zandra Rhodes. But of all the interviews Maureen has conducted, her most special was with His Holiness, the Dalai Lama. Before joining KPBS in 1997, she worked as a news anchor for KSDO and KOGO News Radio in San Diego. While working for commercial radio stations in San Diego and in Salt Lake City, Utah, Maureen reported on both hard news and lifestyle features. Maureen has received three "Golden Mike" awards from the Radio and TV News Association of Southern California for economic reporting and breaking news. She has also received a "Best of Show" and “Best Radio Newscast” awards from the San Diego Press Club and the "Flo" Award from Public Radio Program Directors Association for Best Public Radio Announcer in a large market. Maureen is a native of Queens, New York, but after more than 20 years in San Diego she feels she qualifies as a real Southern Californian.

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Angela Carone

Angela Carone covered arts and culture for KPBS and was the author of Culture Lust. Angela has produced public radio programs focused on the arts for the Atlanta and San Diego markets. In this role, she has covered topics ranging from books, film, theater, music, visual arts and pop culture. She also has more than 15 years experience in print media, having been published in various newspapers, alternative weeklies, and exhibition catalogs. Angela has degrees in political science from Pennsylvania State University and in English literature from Georgia State University. She is also a published photographer.

See stories by Angela Carone