Access Type
Open Access Dissertation
Date of Award
January 2017
Degree Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Ph.D.
Department
English
First Advisor
Jonathan Flatley
Abstract
This dissertation examines fictional responses to the events of September 11, 2001. It argues for the importance of one kind of fictional response, one which focuses on representing the feeling of "unsettledness" that can be one effect of trauma, with the aim of making that unsettledness itself a locus of a shared common experience. I posit that in articulating the events of 9/11 in the context of, in relation to, and as one in a series of traumas, violences, and histories, these narratives make the unsettlements shareable. Focusing on four works of fiction that were published after 9/11 – Joseph O’Neill’s Netherland, Junot Díaz’s The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao (Oscar Wao), Teju Cole’s Open City, and Jennifer Egan’s A Visit From the Goon Squad (Goon Squad) – I explore representations of the effects of and the attempts to cope with traumatic experiences including 9/11 itself.
Recommended Citation
Kattemalavadi, Chinmayi, "(an) Unsettled Commons: Narrative And Trauma After 9/11" (2017). Wayne State University Dissertations. 1821.
https://digitalcommons.wayne.edu/oa_dissertations/1821