Falling Men in the Post-9/11 Novel

Master's Thesis , 2014 , 58 Pages , Grade: 1,5

American Studies - Literature

Since September 11, 2011, reality has not only outstripped fiction, it’s destroying it. It’s impossible to write about this subject, and yet impossible to write about anything else. Nothing else touches us. (Beigbeder 8)
On an early and sunny Tuesday morning in September 2001 the unimaginable happened, 2973 people were killed in an attack on the World Trade Center in New York City. Within 15 minutes two airplanes hit the Twin Towers and heralded a new age; “the age of terror”. The trauma begins at 8:46 AM local time with the crashing of the first plane into The North Tower. The tower will collapse 102 minutes later. These 102 minutes show images of crashing planes, burning and collapsing towers and people jumping from windows. These images spread around the world and were repeated endlessly, “framing them in the discourses of heroism, patriotism, innocence and trauma” (Däwes 2). The images of 9/11 burned themselves into the memories of contemporary witnesses. On this Tuesday the World Trade Center literally becomes the center of the world. What is happening inside the burning towers remains invisible. Everyone who is located above the crashed planes is left with the choice to burn or to jump. About 200 people throw themselves out of the windows. [...]

Table of Content

1. Introduction

2. Out of the Blue - Trauma
2.1. “There is no Next” – Melancholia in DeLillo’s Falling Man
2.2. “Wearing Heavy Boots” – Mourning in Foer’s Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close

3. “You Know How it Ends; Everybody Dies” - Beigbeder’s Windows on the World
3.1. Describing the Indescribable
3.2. “Some Seconds are Longer Than Others” - Timeline of a Catastrophe
3.3. The Higher You Build, The Lower You Fall

4. Falling Men – Images of a National Trauma
4.1. Identity in Don DeLillo’s Falling Man
4.2. “The Photosensitive Surface” – Witnessing the Falling Man

5. The Other
5.1. “Us vs. Them” Display of “the Other” in DeLillo’s Falling Man
5.2. Connecting to the Other in a Post-9/11 World
5.3. Playing Poker

6. Conclusion

Deutsche Zusammenfassung

Works Cited

• College: Humboldt-University of Berlin (Amerikanistik)
• Grade: 1,5
• Author: Master of Arts Nathalie Gerlach (Author)
• Publication Year: 2014
• Pages: 58
• Catalog Number: V292973
• ISBN (eBook): 9783656903246
• ISBN (Book): 9783656903253
• Language: English
• Tags: falling, post-9/11, novel