Admission requirements
Relevant bachelor’s degree.
Description
The 10th anniversary of the terrorist attacks of September 11 in 2011 refueled the critical debate about the literary and cultural response to what (controversially) is called “9/11”. Aiming both to study and to contribute to this debate, this interdisciplinary course will explore the ways in which recent novels and films reflect on the terrorist attacks of 9/11 and to what extent they succeed in challenging ethnic stereotypes and the “us versus them” political discourse of the aftermath. Drawing on theories of trauma and memory, we’ll study the often innovative and intermedial literary strategies and cinematographic techniques writers like Jonathan Safran Foer, Don DeLillo, Art Spiegelman, and Joseph O’Neill and film makers use to represent life “in the shadow of no towers” and address post-9/11 political developments. We’ll also read novels by two Muslim writers, Mohsin Hamid and Nadeem Aslam, that critically interrogate the re-emergence of exceptionalist political discourse in the wake of 9/11 and put the attacks and their impact in a transnational and postcolonial perspective. Among the films we’ll discuss are the Naudet brothers’ 9/11, Michael Moore’s Fahrenheit 9/11, Alain Brigand’s 11/09/01, Gavin Hood’s Rendition, Chris Morris’s Four Lions, and Kathryn Bigelow’s Zero Dark Thirty. We’ll also look at the TV series Homeland. Finally, we’ll take a critical look at the contentious history of the memorialization of 9/11 at “Ground Zero.” Throughout the course we’ll address the aesthetics and ethics of trauma (using Judith Butler’s work), but we’ll also discuss the problematic mobilization of trauma in post- 9/11 politics.
Course objectives
This course offers an interdisciplinary approach to the cultural response to the 9/11 attacks in literature, film, and memorialization practices and aims to:
develop students’ analytical and critical skills through in-depth reading of literary text and films, which will be studied in their historical and cultural context;
give insight into the central issues in the ongoing critical and theoretical debate about the cultural response to 9/11, particularly the notion of U.S. exceptionalism, (national and ethnic) identity, migration, (neo-)orientalism, and multiculturalism;
introduce students to and develop a critical understanding of trauma theory and memory studies and ;
develop students’ skills to conduct independent research;
develop students’ oral presentation and academic writing skills through in-class discussion and (group) presentation and an essay proposal and a research essay, respectively.
Timetable
See timetable.
Mode of instruction
Seminar.
Course load
Total course load for the course (10 ec x 28 hours): 280 hours.
hours spent on attending seminars (40 hours);
time for studying the required literature and film screening (120 hours);
time to prepare presentation and write a short assignment and research paper (including research proposal/reading/research) (120 hours).
Assessment method
oral presentation and participation (30%);
short writing assignment (10%);
essay proposal and research essay (c. 4000-4500 words; 60%).
Retake
If the final grade is insufficient, only the research essay can be rewritten.
Blackboard
Blackboard will be used for specific information about (components of) the course, such as links to recommended critical and theoretical articles, websites, discussion questions, presentation and essay topics, and academic writing materials.
Reading list
Jonathan Safran Foer, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close (Penguin);
Don DeLillo, Falling Man (Scribner);
Art Spiegelman, In the Shadow of No Towers (Pantheon);
Joseph O’Neill, Netherland (Harper Perennial);
Mohsin Hamid, The Reluctant Fundamentalist (Harvest);
Nadeem Aslam, The Wasted Vigil (Vintage International);
DVD Homeland, Season 1
Registration
Via uSis.
Remarks
Since several post-9/11 novels revisit F. Scott Fitzgerald’s classic novel The Great Gatsby, students are recommended to read The Great Gatsby during the summer in preparation for the course.