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This research paper explores the intersections of existentialism and absurdity through a comparative analysis of two structurally divergent yet thematically linked novels: Kazuo Ishiguro’s The Remains of the Day and Chuck Palahniuk’s Fight Club. By applying the core existential tenets of anguish, alienation, authenticity, and facticity, the study examines how individuals navigate an existential crisis within a world stripped of inherent meaning. The analysis highlights the "Bad Faith" and "philosophical suicide" inherent in Stevens’ rigid adherence to professional dignity, contrasting it with the volatile, anarchic rebellion against consumerist numbness found in the narrator of Fight Club. Drawing on the frameworks established by Jean-Paul Sartre and Albert Camus, the paper argues that both protagonists grapple with the "Sisyphus-like" struggle of modern existence—one through the stifling repression of the self and the other through its violent deconstruction.
Dhruvan M. “Existence Precedes Essence: A Comparative Analysis of Existential Crisis in The Remains of the Day and Fight Club.” The Criterion: An International Journal in English, vol. 17, no. 2, Apr. 2026, pp. 652–665. DOI, https://doi.org/10.66376/criterion.v17.n2.42.
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