Trauma in Leila Halaby’s Once in a Promised Land (2007) and Jess Walter’s The Zero (2007)
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Date
2021
Authors
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Journal ISSN
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Publisher
Mouloud Mammeri University OF Tizi-Ouzou
Abstract
Trauma literature is a fertile and plentiful field for investigation and study, especially when it comes to the works of post 9/11 novelists; Leila Halaby and Jess Walter. The present dissertation aims at analyzing the theme of Trauma in Halaby's Once in a Promised Land (2007) and Walter's The Zero (2007). It focuses on the way the two novelists portray post 9/11 America in the aftermath of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, as well as the repercussions on post 9/11 individuals. In order to reach my aim, I compared the two novels using Trauma Theory. The research emphasizes that the two fictitious narratives are products of the post 9/11 era. As a result, it portrays the Trauma of that period. Furthermore, it reveals the catastrophic impact of the terrorist attacks on both individuals and society. It also explains how people grappled with the images put on survivors after the deadliest attacks. Most notably, the current study places a strong emphasis on what it means to be an American or Arab-American after September 11, 2001, and how these events have affected people's psychological, personal, social sides. Finally, it explains the way the survivors sought to escape the personal and social Trauma of the post 9/11 world through escaping from their true selves and adopting new behaviours.
Description
76p. ; 30cm.+(cd)
Keywords
Trauma theory, 9/11, Leila Halaby’s Once in a Promised Land, Jess Walter’s The Zero, post 9/11 Fiction
Citation
Literature and Civilization