Parallelism between On the Road and Fight Club

[Silvia]

I'm working on a paper and I would like to draw a parallelism between Kerouac's On the Road and Palahniuk's Fight Club, but I'm wondering whether the elements that I think these two novels have in common are sufficient to justify such a comparison and whether there's a point to it, after all. The fact is, I'd like to find something original to work on and these two novels came to my mind because they have never been compared to one another, as far as I know.
1) They are both cult novels;
2) Both authors break with tradition as far as style is concerned (Of course, Kerouac was the real innovator, while Palahniuk has probably been influenced by other authors - the cover of my Italian copy of Fight Club says "the new De Lillo"...- still, his writing style isn't traditional);
3)Both novels deal with a duo, a couple of complementary friends that share experiences;
4) One of the two is a sort of Guru ( and, in a way, a projection of what the other would like to be, which is far more evident in Fight Club...) that "initiates" the other into the secrets of his madness-holyness;
5) Both novels represent the anxiety of a generation that rebels against society;
6) When the narrator's friend isn't physically present, he's a kind of ghost haunting the narrator;
7) The Road and the Fight are means through which the characters prove to themselves they are not dead yet. As long as they are on the road death won't be able to reach them, in the same way, as long as they fight and their bodies ache, they know they are still alive (this is lame, I must admit...I feel like my English teacher who, instead of "going" to the poem, makes the poem "come" to him...);
8) Both novels start from the end;
9) The problem linked to the father figure;
10) The friendship breaks at some point;
I mean, it seems to me there are some similarities, but they are not that relevant or might be completely casual. Moreover, I read Fight Club many years ago, so maybe there are things I'm leaving out.
If there's some level of connection, however, I still have to find out the reason why a contemporary author used (conciously or unconciously) the main beat novel as a source for his. What is there in the motives and sensibility of the Beat generation that Palahniuk tried to bring into this generation?

[tomt]

There's certainly a rejection of conformity and societal norms in Fight Club that the Beats roused in many of their fans. I've only read On the Road once just to say I did, so I can't draw a strong parallel between them, but there might be something there.

[blackbird_9]

You've got a nice set of comparisons, but find an overall thesis that makes all the similarities matter. You could do something along the lines of your #2 example "2) Both authors break with tradition" and tie the rest of the examples into that. Otherwise it's just comparing apples and oranges: they both have seeds; they both grow on a tree; etc etc. No one cares. Make it interesting by making a strong point other then "they have things in common." That will be a nice A paper.

[Silvia]

You've got a nice set of comparisons, but find an overall thesis that makes all the similarities matter. You could do something along the lines of your #2 example "2) Both authors break with tradition" and tie the rest of the examples into that. Otherwise it's just comparing apples and oranges: they both have seeds; they both grow on a tree; etc etc. No one cares. Make it interesting by making a strong point other then "they have things in common."

Exactly. That's what I'm trying to do, I know I have to enlighten these similarities by putting them into something bigger. As a writer, Palahniuk must have read a lot and he has probably been influenced by planty of authors (as everybody). In this case, it seems to me that On the Road played an important role and had a major influence. There must be a reason why it is this particular novel and this particular author and this particular literary movement instead of any other. This is something that really interests me (even though I realise I'm stating the obvious here): the fact that, out of all the things we read, there are some authors that talk to us more than others and with whom we connect on a deeper level. Why did Palahniuk, in 1996, connect more with Kerouac and consequently, what does the generation of youg people who have been influenced by Palahniuk's novel share with the beats? This is the overall thesis I'd like to develop. Anyway, this is just a sort of practising for my university thesis, since I've not made up my mind yet (my first choice was Salinger, but I'm not sure about it). I'm determined not to go on the internet to search for a subject, so I'm considering every idea that comes to my mind, but I'm quite lost at the moment:)
Thank you, tomt and blackbird, for the nice answers!