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 W rzburg (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