Since September 11, 2011, reality has not only outstripped fiction, it’s destroying it. It’s impossible to write about this subject, and yet impossible to write about anything else. Nothing else touches us. (Beigbeder 8)
On an early and sunny Tuesday morning in September 2001 the unimaginable happened, 2973 people were killed in an attack on the World Trade Center in New York City. Within 15 minutes two airplanes hit the Twin Towers and heralded a new age; “the age of terror”. The trauma begins at 8:46 AM local time with the crashing of the first plane into The North Tower. The tower will collapse 102 minutes later. These 102 minutes show images of crashing planes, burning and collapsing towers and people jumping from windows. These images spread around the world and were repeated endlessly, “framing them in the discourses of heroism, patriotism, innocence and trauma” (Däwes 2). The images of 9/11 burned themselves into the memories of contemporary witnesses. On this Tuesday the World Trade Center literally becomes the center of the world. What is happening inside the burning towers remains invisible. Everyone who is located above the crashed planes is left with the choice to burn or to jump. About 200 people throw themselves out of the windows. [...]
Inhaltsverzeichnis (Table of Contents)
- Introduction
- Out of the Blue - Trauma
- "There is no Next" – Melancholia in DeLillo's Falling Man
- "Wearing Heavy Boots" - Mourning in Foer's Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close
- "You Know How it Ends; Everybody Dies" - Beigbeder's Windows on the World
- Describing the Indescribable
- "Some Seconds are Longer Than Others" - Timeline of a Catastrophe
- The Higher You Build, The Lower You Fall
- Falling Men – Images of a National Trauma
- Identity in Don DeLillo's Falling Man
- “The Photosensitive Surface” – Witnessing the Falling Man
- The Other
- “Us vs. Them\" Display of “the Other” in DeLillo's Falling Man
- Connecting to the Other in a Post-9/11 World
- Playing Poker
Zielsetzung und Themenschwerpunkte (Objectives and Key Themes)
This thesis examines the portrayal of trauma in three post-9/11 novels: Don DeLillo's Falling Man, Jonathan Safran Foer's Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, and Frédéric Beigbeder's Windows on the World. It aims to analyze how these novels represent the national trauma of the September 11 attacks and explore the different ways in which characters cope with the event. The thesis focuses on the human aspect of the 9/11 tragedy, particularly the "Falling Men" who jumped from the burning towers, and their significance in navigating the aftermath of the catastrophe.
- Trauma theory and its application to post-9/11 literature
- The role of imagery and photography in representing 9/11
- The concept of "the Other" in a post-9/11 world
- The impact of trauma on individual identity and coping mechanisms
- The power of literature to confront and understand the unimaginable
Zusammenfassung der Kapitel (Chapter Summaries)
Chapter two explores the two main approaches to coping with trauma: melancholia and mourning. It analyzes how these approaches are portrayed in Falling Man and Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, focusing on the differing ways in which the characters grapple with their loss and the lasting impact of the attacks. Chapter three delves into Beigbeder's unconventional approach to depicting the 9/11 tragedy in Windows on the World. By focusing on a "Falling Man" as his protagonist, Beigbeder seeks to humanize the event and force the reader to confront the unimaginable reality of the tragedy.
Schlüsselwörter (Keywords)
This thesis explores key concepts related to trauma, post-9/11 literature, and the impact of the September 11 attacks. Some key terms include trauma theory, melancholia, mourning, identity, the Other, imagery, photography, and the "Falling Men". The analysis also focuses on the literary works of Don DeLillo, Jonathan Safran Foer, and Frédéric Beigbeder.
- Citar trabajo
- Master of Arts Nathalie Gerlach (Autor), 2014, Falling Men in the Post-9/11 Novel, Múnich, GRIN Verlag, https://www.grin.com/document/292973
