Don DeLillo’s novel Falling Man (Scribner, 2007) begins with the main character, Keith Neudecker, walking out from the rubble of the World Trade Center. Dazed and slightly injured, Keith first appears to the reader emerging from the ashes of the terrorist attack, moving away from the destruction. But, DeLillo explains, as Keith moves away from the carnage of the World Trade Center he also enters into an entirely new world: a world created in the trauma and by the trauma of September 11, 2001.
DeLillo begins his novel by invoking the way in which 9/11 is collectively discussed in popular culture and media: as a day that we emerged from, changed; as a day we moved into a changed world. Like Keith, we’re told that we are moving away from the trauma and into a world colored by the political, social, and cultural aftereffects of that day. This emergent movement is detailed in DeLillo’s novel, and also in a growing body of literature that either directly or indirectly takes up the events of 9/11. These works of fiction, including Jonathan Safran Foer’s Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close and Ken Kalfus’ A Disorder Peculiar to the Country, are increasingly being taught in literature classrooms across the country and are encouraging critical discussions about the pre- and post-9/11 world.
With the ten-year anniversary of 9/11taking place this semester, I would like to devote some space in this column to an ongoing conversation with those of you who have taught or who are teaching works of fiction that deal with 9/11. If you have experiences or thoughts on teaching a 9/11 text and would like to share them with your colleagues and peers, please post a comment or contact me via email (timhetland@gmail.com) or through Twitter (@timhetland).
Though not a work of literature, The 9/9/11 airing of This American Life tells the story of 9/11 survivors, their families, and their reactions to anniversary-related events.
In the first few minutes Glass speaks to a woman who does whatever she can to avoid these events because she must “forget in order to heal.” Glass then asks the question (apologies if I misquote here) “If these events aren’t for 9/11 survivors, or the families of those who were killed in the attack, who are they for?”
A story like this one would certainly encourage students to think critically about how the world has changed since 2001, as well as the motivation behind 9/11-related events.
http://www.thisamericanlife.org/play_full.php?play=445&podcast=1