“Nach Auschwitz ein Gedicht zu schreiben, ist barbarisch“1 This is a famous quotation by Theodor W. Adorno. It may surprise to find it at the beginning of a thesis paper called “9/11 in Literature and Film”. Obviously, the amount of victims of the Holocaust and 9/11 differ enormously, and the events are therefore incomparable. However, many people have labeled the attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon that happened on September 11, 2001 as the major catastrophe of our times; irreversibly changing the world we live in. Causing a trauma and massive grief to many people and leading to further deaths in Afghanistan and Iraq (civilians as well as soldiers), the attacks have huge significance for today’s worldwide political and social situation. For example, the issue of withdrawing the troops from Iraq is a major point of discussion in the ongoing presidential candidate debate between Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. It is the question of how one can do justice to the many victims of 9/11 and its aftermath by means of literature and film. Is it possible to put trauma and grief in words, and maybe even contribute to overcome these states and accept reality? This will be the central focus of this thesis paper. To examine how 9/11 is represented in literature, I have chosen to examine three novels and one collection of comic strips. These have been written by very different authors: a hyped youngster, an old hand at fiction about politics and terrorism, an Englishman and a comic-strip artist who has before dealt with the Holocaust in a graphic novel. This indicates a great variety of how to come to terms with the traumatic experience; however, they share more than may be visible at first sight. Additionally, I will analyze two films, a documentary and a mainstream Hollywood feature and show how these films surprisingly similarly tackle issues of loss and grief.
Table of Contents
1. Introduction
2. 9/11 as trauma
2.1. Definition of trauma
2.2. 9/11 as a traumatic experience
3. 9/11 in literature
3.1. Overview
3.2. Jonathan Safran Foer “Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close”
3.2.1. Plot summary
3.2.2. Structure and style
3.2.3. The narrator
3.2.4. Recurring themes and motifs
3.2.4.1. The key
3.2.4.2. Loneliness and loss
3.2.4.3. The pictures of the falling man
3.2.5. Conclusion
3.3. Ian McEwan “Saturday”
3.3.1. Plot summary
3.3.2. Structure and style
3.3.3. Setting of the novel
3.3.4. Recurring themes
3.3.4.1. Religion
3.3.4.2. Illness
3.3.4.3. Terrorism
3.3.5. Conclusion
3.4. Don DeLillo “Falling Man”
3.4.1. Plot summary
3.4.2. Structure and style
3.4.3. Recurring themes
3.4.3.1. Terrorism
3.4.3.2. Religion
3.4.3.3. The Falling Man
3.4.3.4. Loss of memory
3.4.4. Conclusion
3.5. Art Spiegelman “In the Shadow of No Towers”
3.5.1. Structure and style
3.5.2. Analysis of plate no. 2
3.5.3. Conclusion
3.6. Conclusion: 9/11 in literature
3.6.1. Setting
3.6.2. The Falling Man
3.6.3. Mental diseases / loss of memory
3.6.4. Family
3.6.5. Religion
3.6.6. Politics
4. 9/11 in film
4.1. Documentaries
4.2. Movies
4.3. Oliver Stone “World Trade Center”
4.3.1. Plot summary
4.3.2. Authentic background
4.3.3. Fact vs. fiction
4.3.4. Inaccuracies and dramatizations
4.3.5. Recurring themes
4.3.5.1. Heroism
4.3.5.2. Family
4.3.5.3. Patriotism
4.3.5.4. Religion
4.3.6. Film techniques
4.3.7. Conclusion
4.4. Jules and Gédéon Naudet “9/11”
4.4.1. Background information
4.4.2. Summary of the film
4.4.3. Arrangement of the film
4.4.3.1.Narration
4.4.3.2. Creating suspense / dramatization
4.4.3.3. External footage
4.4.4. Central themes
4.4.4.1. Heroism
4.4.4.2. Patriotism
4.4.5. Conclusion
4.5. Conclusion: 9/11 in film
5. Final Conclusion
6. Bibliography
Objectives and Themes
This thesis examines how the traumatic events of 9/11 are represented and processed within contemporary literature and film. By analyzing a selection of novels, comic strips, documentaries, and Hollywood features, the author explores whether artistic mediation can provide a means of coming to terms with mass grief, individual trauma, and the fundamental shift in world perception following the attacks.
- The psychological impact of trauma and the difficulty of processing sudden, large-scale violence.
- The representation of 9/11 in literary works versus cinematic portrayals.
- The tension between factual events, personal memory, and fictionalized narrative strategies.
- Political and social consequences of the attacks on both national and global levels.
- The role of family, religion, and heroism in constructing a sense of meaning after catastrophe.
Excerpt from the Book
3.2.4.1. The key
The key that Oskar finds in the remains of the broken vase and the quest for its meaning are symbolic for Oskar’s struggle to cope with his father’s death. Oskar has a strong need to know the reasons for why things happen: “Just because you’re an atheist, that doesn’t mean you wouldn’t love for things to have reasons for why they are.” He is unable to grasp the significance and meaning of 9/11 and his father’s subsequent death and therefore tries to solve this final riddle. His hunt for the truth becomes his healing process. He meets several people, who all have problems in their very own ways. For example, Aaron Black is disabled and does not leave his apartment. Abby Black is very rich, but seems very lonely. Mr. Black, who accompanies Oskar on his journeys through the five New York boroughs, suffers from the loss of his wife. By seeing that all these people have problems on their own unrelated to 9/11, Oskar sees that not only he is grieving, and that life holds disappointments and troubles for everyone.
This prevalence of grief and loss is also indicated by the recurring mentioning of worldwide catastrophes. Obviously, the book deals with 9/11. However, we learn that Oskar’s grandparents have suffered through the bombings of Dresden. Furthermore, one chapter begins with a scene at Oskar’s school where Oskar shows the class, probably as a part of a presentation, a recorded interview of a person who survived the bombing of Hiroshima. This further reference to a destroyed city shows that the suffering is not limited to the USA, but that there has always been grief. However, this recurring theme of destroyed cities has led to criticism for being a cheap trick. Deveson calls it “willful and vulgar”. In my opinion, though, it rather seems to be a political allusion: the USA are not the innocent victims they portray themselves as. A lot of grief worldwide has been caused by them; many people died in Dresden and Hiroshima due to the American attacks. Obviously, the nations under attack were considered as the enemy; however, the attacks were not carried out on the enemy’s military resources, but on civilians. This reminds me of the terrorist attacks on 9/11: the terrorists considered the USA as the enemy and attacked civilians.
Summary of Chapters
1. Introduction: The author introduces 9/11 as a defining catastrophe that disrupted modern life and explores the core question of whether literature and film can provide justice to victims and help survivors process grief.
2. 9/11 as trauma: This chapter defines trauma as a delayed psychological reaction to extreme events and investigates how the 9/11 attacks, witnessed live or via media, established a persistent state of collective anxiety and shock.
3. 9/11 in literature: The section analyzes how diverse fictional works attempt to grasp the enormity of 9/11 through narrative, focusing on themes such as loss, memory, and the struggle to reconstruct identity in a changed world.
4. 9/11 in film: This chapter examines documentaries and Hollywood productions, contrasting their focus on heroism and patriotism with the often more critical, personal reflections found in literary accounts.
5. Final Conclusion: The study synthesizes the findings, noting that while both film and literature struggle with the limitations of representing the unrepresentable, they offer different paths—heroism in film and introspective mourning in books—to cope with the lingering trauma of 9/11.
6. Bibliography: A comprehensive list of primary literary and filmic sources, alongside the academic secondary literature used to support the thesis.
Keywords
9/11, Trauma, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, Literary Fiction, Film Studies, World Trade Center, Grief, Memory, Terrorism, Heroism, Patriotism, Religion, Identity, Loss, Representation.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the core focus of this thesis?
The thesis investigates how the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, are represented and processed within selected works of literature and film, analyzing their strategies for dealing with mass trauma and social upheaval.
Which thematic fields are central to the analysis?
Key themes include individual and collective trauma, the role of family and memory, religious responses to catastrophe, and the socio-political implications of the attacks as depicted in artistic narratives.
What is the primary research goal?
The author aims to determine if and how literature and film can provide a "work of mourning," potentially helping survivors and societies attribute meaning to the tragedy and navigate the "before" and "after" of the event.
Which scientific methods are employed?
The work utilizes a comparative analysis of primary fictional and documentary sources, relying on concepts from trauma theory, media criticism, and cultural studies to evaluate narrative and cinematic techniques.
What are the main areas of the literary and filmic investigation?
The paper covers major novels by Foer, McEwan, and DeLillo, comic works by Art Spiegelman, as well as documentaries and feature films, highlighting how these media address the collapse of stable worldviews.
Which keywords characterize the work?
The work is defined by terms such as 9/11, trauma, grief, literary representation, cinematic adaptation, and the socio-political impact of international terrorism.
How do films differentiate themselves from the novels in their treatment of 9/11?
The author observes that films tend to favor themes of heroism and patriotism to provide "comforting" narratives, whereas the literature discussed often explores deeper psychological ambivalence and the difficulty of finding closure.
What role does the "Falling Man" motif play?
It acts as a recurring, haunting symbol for the ultimate vulnerability of victims and the cruel choices forced by the collapse of the towers, appearing as both a literal reference in literature and an aesthetic challenge for artistic depiction.
- Quote paper
- Sandra Maschke (Author), 2008, 9/11 in Literature and Film, Munich, GRIN Verlag, https://www.grin.com/document/113179
