Abstract
Reconfiguring the debate on the historical efficacy of postmodern fiction, novels inspired by 9/11 seek to view the present itself as history. McEwan’s Saturday, DeLillo’s Falling Man, and Hamid’s Reluctant Fundamentalist attempt to move beyond the view of history-as-text. Rather than evoking “the presence of the past,” they present characters trying to situate themselves in a new historical reality. Žižek’s account of Lacan illuminates DeLillo’s attempt to historicize the present, while McEwan gestures toward Foucault’s view of the present as exit. Only Hamid engages the historical potential of the present.
Session Number
Session 18: TERRORISM, FICTION, AND THE EVERYDAY: HISTORY, GENDER, POLITICS
Location
Stewart Center 318
Start Date
9-9-2011 3:15 PM
End Date
9-9-2011 4:45 PM
Recommended Citation
Kuchta, Todd, "Historicizing the Present in 9/11 Fiction" (2011). Re-visioning Terrorism. 33.
https://docs.lib.purdue.edu/revisioning/2011/909/33
Included in
American Literature Commons, Literature in English, British Isles Commons, Literature in English, North America, Ethnic and Cultural Minority Commons
Historicizing the Present in 9/11 Fiction
Stewart Center 318
Reconfiguring the debate on the historical efficacy of postmodern fiction, novels inspired by 9/11 seek to view the present itself as history. McEwan’s Saturday, DeLillo’s Falling Man, and Hamid’s Reluctant Fundamentalist attempt to move beyond the view of history-as-text. Rather than evoking “the presence of the past,” they present characters trying to situate themselves in a new historical reality. Žižek’s account of Lacan illuminates DeLillo’s attempt to historicize the present, while McEwan gestures toward Foucault’s view of the present as exit. Only Hamid engages the historical potential of the present.