The construction of subjectivity in post 9/11 narratives for young adults

Abstract

On 11 September 2001, a terrorist attack on the World Trade Centre Towers in New York City left three thousand people dead and a horrified nation, as well as a dumbfounded global audience. The singularity of the attacks was such that it was recognised as an 'event' in cultural discourse (Baudrillard, 2001; Derrida, 2003). Culture studies outlined the various ways in which culture was affected, and literature was also one of the aspects that were taken into consideration. Critical studies dealing with post-9/11 literature focused mainly on theme and with ineffability, notions of ethnic and racial identity, and the portrayal of trauma, amongst others (Keniston and Follansbee, 2008; Versluys, 2009; Lampert, 2009, among others). This dissertation shall be taking a different line of investigation. The primary texts of interest will be those recognised as Young Adult Literature, that is, novels addressed to teenage or, adolescent, readers (Donelson and Pace Nilsen, 1997). Very often, a growing number of such narratives have recently been dubbed as 'crossover', meaning that they are equally enjoyed by 'adult' readers (Trim, 2004), as are the novels chosen for this analysis. girl_X recreated: Hopes and Dreams of Young People, by Leanne Rowe, The Usual Rules by Joyce Maynard, and Jonathan Safran Foer's Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, will be the main foci, however, references to other related texts will also be made throughout. The purpose of the close reading shall be one that aims to identify the narrative strategies that were repeatedly employed in the literature following 9/11, and how such strategies consequently affected constructions of subjectivity. As a result, the study will also look into constructions of the self in literature, the textualisation of the self, as it were (Hall, 2004). Among the narrative strategies that will be overviewed, the close reading exercise shall also look into the use of images, as part of the visual strategy of the texts. In this regard, the analysis will only seek to highlight the interaction of the visual and the print insofar as it informs the discussion on narrative constructions of the self. Furthermore, the analysis will take a narratological stance, in line with tools proposed by Gerard Genette. The thesis will argue that, the narrative strategies being used suggest a new form of subjectivity that, whilst drawing on Modern and postmodern trends, is at the same time innovative.