Tone

“Q. Do you consider what your audience will tolerate in terms of violence? Is it something that you are intentionally pushing or is it a natural part of the story?
A. In my half-understanding of Kierkegaard, the Danish philosopher, there was a concept – I don’t know if it was dread or angst – where at the moment you can conceive of something, you’re burdened by that possibility until that thing happens or you do that thing. So the moment I think of something I would never write about, it becomes a burden until I find some way to make that horrible thing work in fiction. I swore that I would never have an animal killed gratuitously in anything I ever wrote, and then I got the idea for dropping the rat down the garbage disposal, that hideous scene, and how that could be used to show Pygmy in emotional conflict and make him a very sympathetic character in that moment. It’s not really about what the reader can tolerate, but rather about finding some way to exorcise my demons and to put them on the page in a useful way so that they’re not gratuitous and actually accomplish something in the story.”
- Interview excerpt with Chuck from “Chuck Palahniuk’s ‘Pygmy’ is Huge” http://network.nationalpost.com/np/blogs/theampersand/archive/2009/05/11/chuck-palahniuk-s-pygmy-is-huge.aspx