9/11 in literaturethe commission report vs. the counternarratives

Abstract

This research studies a sample of the short stories and novels written in the USA after the 9/11 attacks, collectively known as ‘post-9/11 fiction,’ in relation to the 9/11 Commission Report, a document which we consider to represent the official narrative of those events. Our corpus comprises works by Don DeLillo (Falling Man, 2007), Jonathan Safran Foer (Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, 2005), John Updike (Terrorist, 2006), John Irving (Last Night in Twisted River, 2009), Philip Roth (Everyman, 2006) and Jay McInerney (The Good Life, 2006). The short stories that we analyzed are compiled in 110 Stories. New York Writes after September 11 (ed. U. Baer, 2002) and in September 11, 2001. American Writers Respond (ed. W. Heyen, 2002). Our objective is to explain how, and why, fiction is different from the Report by investigating the topics that both sources deal with and the way in which they do it. We use the theoretical framework provided by Trauma Theory for our comparison. We conclude that the Commission Report is the official narrative of September 11, and that in fiction we can find its counternarratives, the stories that complement it and sometimes contradict it, helping us to fully understand 9/11. As regards trauma, we argue that fiction helps in the healing process, while the Report ignores trauma.