Terrorism and the Novel, 1970-2001

Since 1970, terrorism has become a prominent subject for English-language novels. In an attempt to characterize the modern terrorism novel and the cultural work it has performed, the authors have devised a typology of terrorism-infiction from 1970 through 2001. Over a thousand novels were documented...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Poetics today 2008, Vol.29 (3), p.387-436
Main Authors: Appelbaum, Robert, Paknadel, Alexis
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Aesthetic subjects
Cultural Studies
English
Estetiska ämnen
Fiction
History
HUMANIORA och RELIGIONSVETENSKAP
HUMANITIES and RELIGION
Literary Criticism
Literary Theory
Literature
Literature and Literary Studies
Litteraturvetenskap
Media Studies
novel
Novels
Politics
Terrorism
Writers
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Since 1970, terrorism has become a prominent subject for English-language novels. In an attempt to characterize the modern terrorism novel and the cultural work it has performed, the authors have devised a typology of terrorism-infiction from 1970 through 2001. Over a thousand novels were documented, including both thrillers and mainstream works. A sample of twenty-five novels from the period was then selected for careful reading, analysis, and comparison. Preliminary results establish that though there is a great deal of diversity in terrorism novels, both in what they do with terrorism and why, they are by and large focused less on politics than on sentiment and less on the perpetrators of terrorism than on its victims. But novels introduce an innovation in what has been called the "mythography of terrorism" by introducing new types of "controlling consciousnesses" through which terrorist violence is perceived.
ISSN:0333-5372
1527-5507
1527-5507
DOI:10.1215/03335372-072