Catharsis in Prose
2
9/11: Catharsis in prose By Suma Nagaraj The Water Cooler USA and the world reeled in shock as two planes flew straight into the twin towe rs, destroying not just the twin symbols of success, but leaving tens of thousan ds of bereaved families in its wake and the nation and its economy reeling in th e aftershocks of the attacks even today. As with any other incident of irrevocab le loss, 9/11 saw itself becoming inspiration to artistes of all kinds. Writers particularly wove the attack into various narratives as a coping mechanism, some thing that has attracted its fair share of criticism. It wouldn't be amiss to state that no other event has inspired literary catharsi s in recent history as 9/11 has. Some of the most noteworthy (not necessarily gr eat) fiction in the last decade have used (arguably) the worst ever terror attac k in the world's history as the backdrop, some to good effect, with others falli ng prey to ill-conceived or over-ambitious plot lines. Jonathan Safran Foer, praised and panned alike for his novel, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, is one of the authors who've been at the receiving end of som e rather pointed criticism, for 'exploiting' the event - but the hugely lauded n ovel that used uncommon literary techniques managed to find itself a taker in Ho llywood and is all set to release next year with Tom Hanks essaying a prominent role. Another novel, Joseph O'Neill's Netherland, longlisted for the Man Booker in 200 8, noted for its eloquent prose, features in many lists as one of 9/11 must-read s. Author Julia Glass and columnist Colum McCann discuss 'the search for truth i n 9/11 fiction' in this audio story. Pankaj Mishra tries to dissect the hold tha t 9/11 has on the literary world in his article on 9/11 fiction. In what is largely seen as probably the most distasteful of literary licenses, t he 9/11 colouring book, featuring the burning towers and Osama's capture and exe cution for children to colour, has drawn ire from various factions, notably Amer ican Muslims. Another dissenting voice says 9/11 fiction cannot even dream of me asuring up to non-fiction about 9/11. There are many schools of thought about this - while some feel that 9/11 may hav e shaped the thinking of a nation, and indeed, the world, there are others who a re caustic in their criticism of our race's exploitative nature for the sake of personal profit. Frank Rich details the ways in which 9/11 was hijacked "by thos e who exploited it for motives large and petty, both ideological and crassly -co mmercial" in this excellent essay on 9/11 and the decade after. Which side are you on? Writers as a race are known to have no boundaries when it comes to seeking inspiration. But is powerful fiction a good enough justificati on of using an event of the gravitas of 9/11 to serve the purpose of personal ca tharses? Is this an ugly form of narcissism? Or does the story of the biggest bl ow to capitalism's capital need to be told in various voices?
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Transcript of Catharsis in Prose
8/3/2019 Catharsis in Prose
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9/11: Catharsis in proseBy Suma Nagaraj The Water CoolerUSA and the world reeled in shock as two planes flew straight into the twin towers, destroying not just the twin symbols of success, but leaving tens of thousands of bereaved families in its wake and the nation and its economy reeling in the aftershocks of the attacks even today. As with any other incident of irrevocable loss, 9/11 saw itself becoming inspiration to artistes of all kinds. Writers
particularly wove the attack into various narratives as a coping mechanism, something that has attracted its fair share of criticism.
It wouldn't be amiss to state that no other event has inspired literary catharsis in recent history as 9/11 has. Some of the most noteworthy (not necessarily great) fiction in the last decade have used (arguably) the worst ever terror attack in the world's history as the backdrop, some to good effect, with others falling prey to ill-conceived or over-ambitious plot lines.
Jonathan Safran Foer, praised and panned alike for his novel, Extremely Loud andIncredibly Close, is one of the authors who've been at the receiving end of some rather pointed criticism, for 'exploiting' the event - but the hugely lauded n
ovel that used uncommon literary techniques managed to find itself a taker in Hollywood and is all set to release next year with Tom Hanks essaying a prominentrole.
Another novel, Joseph O'Neill's Netherland, longlisted for the Man Booker in 2008, noted for its eloquent prose, features in many lists as one of 9/11 must-reads. Author Julia Glass and columnist Colum McCann discuss 'the search for truth in 9/11 fiction' in this audio story. Pankaj Mishra tries to dissect the hold that 9/11 has on the literary world in his article on 9/11 fiction.
In what is largely seen as probably the most distasteful of literary licenses, the 9/11 colouring book, featuring the burning towers and Osama's capture and execution for children to colour, has drawn ire from various factions, notably Amer
ican Muslims. Another dissenting voice says 9/11 fiction cannot even dream of measuring up to non-fiction about 9/11.
There are many schools of thought about this - while some feel that 9/11 may have shaped the thinking of a nation, and indeed, the world, there are others who are caustic in their criticism of our race's exploitative nature for the sake ofpersonal profit. Frank Rich details the ways in which 9/11 was hijacked "by those who exploited it for motives large and petty, both ideological and crassly -commercial" in this excellent essay on 9/11 and the decade after.
Which side are you on? Writers as a race are known to have no boundaries when itcomes to seeking inspiration. But is powerful fiction a good enough justificati
on of using an event of the gravitas of 9/11 to serve the purpose of personal catharses? Is this an ugly form of narcissism? Or does the story of the biggest blow to capitalism's capital need to be told in various voices?
