Claudio Vescia Zanini

The Orgy is Over: Phantasies, Fake Realities and the Loss of Boundaries in Chuck Palahniuk's Haunted Claudio Vescia Zanini

Among the many polemic and pungent ideas presented by the French sociologist and philosopher Jean Baudrillard, there is his 1990 claim that the contemporary world is haunted by "cancer", "transvestite" and "terrorism", three phantasies which are present in virtually every instance of human life. 15 years afterwards, American writer Chuck Palahniuk presents us "Haunted", a mindblowing novel of stories that seems to agree with Baudrillard's postulate like no other. "The Orgy is Over" is an invitation to identify and exorcize - if that is your wish - these postmodern phantasies using Baudrillard's ideas and Palahniuk's novel as main tools, with the valuable support of some notions on reality shows, horror movies, fake documentaries, viruses and some more dirt we are always trying to sweep under the carpet.