Sean X Goudie, Thesis Supervisor Sean X Goudie, Thesis Supervisor Janet Wynne Lyon, Thesis Honors Advisor Mark Stewart Morrisson, Faculty Reader
Keywords:
In the Shadow of No Towers Art Spiegelman 9/11 Literature glocalization Don DeLillo Falling Man double consciousness
Abstract:
How can—and should—aesthetics respond to 9/11? This thesis participates in the ongoing critical dialogue about literature’s response to 9/11. In particular, it examines how two such American responses, Art Spiegelman’s In the Shadow of No Towers and Don DeLillo’s Falling Man, problematize their response-ability to the 9/11 trauma. The analysis first considers how Spiegelman employs a “glocalized aesthetic” to effect glocalized citizenship in his comix. The thesis then shifts to examine Don DeLillo’s use of a “double consciousness aesthetic” to undermine post-9/11 cultural identities by encouraging transcultural engagement. Finally, it contemplates how an Iraqi citizen living in America complicates and complements Spiegelman’s theme of glocalization and DeLillo’s mode of double consciousness.
