9/11 and the Literature of Terror

Description

Explores the fiction, poetry, theatre and cinema that have represented the 9/11 attacks. Works by Martin Amis, Ian McEwan, Don DeLillo, Simon Armitage and Mohsin Hamid are discussed in relation to the specific problems of writing about such a visually spectacular 'event' that has had enormous global implications. Other chapters analyse initial responses to 9/11, the intriguing tensions between fiction and non-fiction, the challenge of describing traumatic history and the ways in which the terrorist attacks have been discussed culturally in the decade since September 11. Key Features * Contributes to the growing literature on 9/11, presenting an over-view of some of the main texts that have represented the attacks and their aftermath * Focus on Don DeLillo: adds to the literature surrounding this major American novelist * Focus on Martin Amis: adds to the growing critical work on this much discussed British novelist and essayist * Man on Wire: provides a critical analysis of this Oscar winning film regarding its oblique references to 9/11 Cover Copyright Contents Acknowledgements Introduction: Eyewitnesses, Conspiracies and Baudrillard Chapter 1 ‘Beyond Belief’: McEwan, DeLillo and 110 Stories Chapter 2 ‘Total Malignancy . . . Militant Irony’: Martin Amis, The Second Plane Chapter 3 ‘You Know How it Ends’: Metafiction and 9/11 in Windows on the World Chapter 4 ‘A Wing and a Prayer’: Simon Armitage, Out of the Blue Chapter 5 ‘A Certain Blurring of the Facts’: Man on Wire and 9/11 Chapter 6 ‘He is Consoling, She is Distraught’: Men and Women and 9/11 in The Mercy Seat and The Guys Chapter 7 ‘Everything Seemed to Mean Something’: Signifying 9/11 in Don DeLillo’s Falling Man Conclusion: ‘I am a Lover of America’ Notes Bibliography Index