The Narrator (Fight Club)
| The Narrator / Tyler Durden | |
|---|---|
| Fight Club character | |
| First appearance | Pursuit of Happiness (1995) |
| Created by | Chuck Palahniuk |
| Portrayed by |
|
| Information | |
| Aliases | Sebastian, Joe, Jack, Cornelius, Rupert, Lenny, Travis, Mr. Taylor, Ozzie, Harry |
| Gender | Male |
| Occupation | Automobile recall coordinator, soapmaker, movie theatre projectionist, banquet waiter, military contractor |
| Spouse(s) | Marla Singer |
| Children | Junior |
The Narrator, also known as Tyler Durden, is a fictional character appearing as the central protagonist and antagonist of the 1996 Chuck Palahniuk novel Fight Club, its 1999 film adaptation of the same name, and the comic book Fight Club 2. The character has dissociative identity disorder, and is depicted as an unnamed everyman known as the Narrator during the day, while he becomes the chaotic and charismatic Tyler Durden at night during periods of insomnia.
In 2008, Tyler was selected by Empire magazine as the greatest movie character of all time. When the list was redone in 2015, he placed at number 8.
The Narrator first appeared in a seven-page short story in the 1995 compilation Pursuit of Happiness. This story later became chapter six of the novel Fight Club, which Palahniuk published in 1996.
In the 1996 novel, the Narrator is depicted as an average middle-class man employed at an unnamed automobile company, wherein he inspects car accidents to determine if an automobile model should be recalled. Suffering from insomnia and depression, he begins visiting support groups for people with illnesses that he is not afflicted with himself. This induces catharsis within him, enabling him to sleep. When a woman named Marla Singer begins to appear at the groups, his euphoria is broken and his insomnia returns.
He meets a man named Tyler Durden while alone on a nude beach, and begins living with him after his condominium explodes due to unknown causes. The duo establish a weekly meeting known as "fight club", in which they and other men can engage in bare-knuckle fistfights. After Marla calls their residence, threatening her suicide, Tyler and Marla begin an affair that causes the Narrator to feel uneasy. Tyler initiates a cult-like organisation known as Project Mayhem in order to aggressively promote his anti-consumerist ideals, but the Narrator becomes increasingly uncomfortable with the group as its activities become more destructive.
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