{"id":{"repo_id":"qu-belfast","oai_identifier":"oai:pure.qub.ac.uk/portal:studenttheses/6ff01c08-48c0-42bd-a30c-ac623e110aba"},"canonical_url":"https://search.dev.ndltd.org/etd/qu-belfast/oai:pure.qub.ac.uk/portal:studenttheses/6ff01c08-48c0-42bd-a30c-ac623e110aba","repository":{"repo_id":"qu-belfast","name":"Queen's University Belfast","base_url":"https://pureadmin.qub.ac.uk/ws/oai"},"display":{"title":"Beyond '9/11': counter-narratives of grief in post-9/11 literature","abstract":"This project examines how Don DeLillo’s Falling Man (2007), Mohsin Hamid’s The Reluctant Fundamentalist (2007) and Claudia Rankine’s Don’t Let Me Be Lonely: An American Lyric (2004) have explored grief in response to the September 11th, 2001 terrorist attacks. It sets out to answer four key questions: is there anything to be gained — politically, socially, ethically, and aesthetically — from lived experiences of grief? How do the texts engage with the grief of abject and ungrievable bodies — from the censored falling body to the perceived Muslim ‘terrorist’ Other to brutalised black bodies — and what are the implications of this engagement? How do the texts depart from a now paradigmatic ‘trauma’ aesthetic to aestheticise loss in new ways? And, finally, to what extent do the texts examined move beyond ‘9/11’, countering the narrative of ‘9/11’ as a national ‘trauma’ to provide alternative portraits of grief? While there is a plethora of literary studies focusing on trauma in ‘9/11 fiction’, which often conflate or misdiagnose grief as trauma, there is not yet a critical study with a sustained focus on grief in post-9/11 literature. Although there is an emerging trend away from traditional trauma theory as a critical paradigm, few scholars have suggested or applied alternate interpretive frameworks. This study reads literary portraits of grief through a variety of analytical lenses provided by cultural theorists, such as Julia Kristeva, Judith Butler, and Lauren Berlant, to create a critical counter-narrative to literary studies of 9/11 ‘trauma’ and the dominant ‘9/11’ narrative of national ‘trauma’ and resilience. <br/><br/>Building on a substantial body of scholarship in grief studies and 9/11 literary studies, “Beyond ‘9/11’: Counter-narratives of Grief in Post-9/11 Literature” makes an original contribution to both fields in several ways: it is the first detailed study of grief in post-9/11 literature and twenty-first-century American literature; it is the first to offer an in-depth analysis of what it considers as abject bodies (and the reclamation of these bodies as political agents) in post-9/11 literature; it includes Rankine’s American Lyric, which is rarely included in studies of 9/11 literature, and departs from established readings of ‘9/11 novels’ to provide new readings; it applies new methodologies to analyse post-9/11 literature, breaking the solidified ties of extant 9/11 literary scholarship to trauma theory, whether in favour of or against; it challenges the dominant medico-psychiatric model of grief to provide an alternate perspective of grief from a literary lens; and, finally, it argues that sustained reflection on the ordinary yet profound experience of grief is (re)productive and filled with the potential to bear various ethical, political, social and aesthetic fruits.","abstract_html":"This project examines how Don DeLillo’s Falling Man (2007), Mohsin Hamid’s The Reluctant Fundamentalist (2007) and Claudia Rankine’s Don’t Let Me Be Lonely: An American Lyric (2004) have explored grief in response to the September 11th, 2001 terrorist attacks. It sets out to answer four key questions: is there anything to be gained — politically, socially, ethically, and aesthetically — from lived experiences of grief? How do the texts engage with the grief of abject and ungrievable bodies — from the censored falling body to the perceived Muslim ‘terrorist’ Other to brutalised black bodies — and what are the implications of this engagement? How do the texts depart from a now paradigmatic ‘trauma’ aesthetic to aestheticise loss in new ways? And, finally, to what extent do the texts examined move beyond ‘9/11’, countering the narrative of ‘9/11’ as a national ‘trauma’ to provide alternative portraits of grief? While there is a plethora of literary studies focusing on trauma in ‘9/11 fiction’, which often conflate or misdiagnose grief as trauma, there is not yet a critical study with a sustained focus on grief in post-9/11 literature. Although there is an emerging trend away from traditional trauma theory as a critical paradigm, few scholars have suggested or applied alternate interpretive frameworks. This study reads literary portraits of grief through a variety of analytical lenses provided by cultural theorists, such as Julia Kristeva, Judith Butler, and Lauren Berlant, to create a critical counter-narrative to literary studies of 9/11 ‘trauma’ and the dominant ‘9/11’ narrative of national ‘trauma’ and resilience. &lt;br/&gt;&lt;br/&gt;Building on a substantial body of scholarship in grief studies and 9/11 literary studies, “Beyond ‘9/11’: Counter-narratives of Grief in Post-9/11 Literature” makes an original contribution to both fields in several ways: it is the first detailed study of grief in post-9/11 literature and twenty-first-century American literature; it is the first to offer an in-depth analysis of what it considers as abject bodies (and the reclamation of these bodies as political agents) in post-9/11 literature; it includes Rankine’s American Lyric, which is rarely included in studies of 9/11 literature, and departs from established readings of ‘9/11 novels’ to provide new readings; it applies new methodologies to analyse post-9/11 literature, breaking the solidified ties of extant 9/11 literary scholarship to trauma theory, whether in favour of or against; it challenges the dominant medico-psychiatric model of grief to provide an alternate perspective of grief from a literary lens; and, finally, it argues that sustained reflection on the ordinary yet profound experience of grief is (re)productive and filled with the potential to bear various ethical, political, social and aesthetic fruits.","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Donnelly, Kelsie"],"institution":"Queen's University Belfast","degree_name":"Doctor of Philosophy","degree_level":"Doctoral Thesis","degree_discipline":null,"degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":[],"advisors":["McGowan, Philip"],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2020,"date_issued":"2020-12","date_published":"2020-12","updated_at":"2026-07-24T03:55:38Z","subjects":["grief","9/11","trauma","abject","twenty-first century literature","American literature","contemporary literature","resilience","Don DeLillo","Mohsin Hamid","Claudia Rankine"],"languages":["eng"],"rights":[],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["oai:pure.qub.ac.uk/portal:studenttheses/6ff01c08-48c0-42bd-a30c-ac623e110aba"],"render_values":[{"text":"oai:pure.qub.ac.uk/portal:studenttheses/6ff01c08-48c0-42bd-a30c-ac623e110aba","href":null,"code":true}]}]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://pure.qub.ac.uk/en/studentTheses/6ff01c08-48c0-42bd-a30c-ac623e110aba","outbound_label":"Repository record","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor.advisor","label":"Advisor","values":["McGowan, Philip"]},{"key":"dc:contributor.sponsor","label":"Sponsor","values":["AHRC Northern Bridge Doctoral Training Partnership"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Donnelly, Kelsie"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date","label":"Dc Date","values":["2020-12"]},{"key":"dc:date.issued","label":"Date","values":["2020-12"]},{"key":"dc:publisher.department","label":"Dc Publisher Department","values":["School of Arts, English and Languages"]},{"key":"dc:publisher.institution","label":"Dc Publisher Institution","values":["Queen's University Belfast"]},{"key":"dc:relation.isreferencedby","label":"Dc Relation Isreferencedby","values":["https://pure.qub.ac.uk/en/studentTheses/6ff01c08-48c0-42bd-a30c-ac623e110aba"]},{"key":"dc:type","label":"Dc Type","values":["Thesis"]},{"key":"dc:type.qualificationlevel","label":"Dc Type Qualificationlevel","values":["Doctoral Thesis"]},{"key":"dc:type.qualificationname","label":"Dc Type Qualificationname","values":["Doctor of Philosophy"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["grief","9/11","trauma","abject","twenty-first century literature","American literature","contemporary literature","resilience","Don DeLillo","Mohsin Hamid","Claudia Rankine"]}]},{"id":"language_rights","label":"Language and Rights","entries":[{"key":"dc:language","label":"Dc Language","values":["eng"]},{"key":"dc:rights.embargodate","label":"Dc Rights Embargodate","values":["2021-12-31"]},{"key":"dc:rights.embargoreason","label":"Dc Rights Embargoreason","values":["/dk/atira/pure/core/document/studentthesisembargoreason/publicationissues"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["oai:pure.qub.ac.uk/portal:studenttheses/6ff01c08-48c0-42bd-a30c-ac623e110aba","https://pure.qub.ac.uk/en/studentTheses/6ff01c08-48c0-42bd-a30c-ac623e110aba"]},{"key":"dc:identifier.uri","label":"Identifier URI","values":["https://pure.qub.ac.uk/files/221389561/Final_KD_PhD_Hardbound_Thesis_911_November_2020.pdf"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["This project examines how Don DeLillo’s Falling Man (2007), Mohsin Hamid’s The Reluctant Fundamentalist (2007) and Claudia Rankine’s Don’t Let Me Be Lonely: An American Lyric (2004) have explored grief in response to the September 11th, 2001 terrorist attacks. It sets out to answer four key questions: is there anything to be gained — politically, socially, ethically, and aesthetically — from lived experiences of grief? How do the texts engage with the grief of abject and ungrievable bodies — from the censored falling body to the perceived Muslim ‘terrorist’ Other to brutalised black bodies — and what are the implications of this engagement? How do the texts depart from a now paradigmatic ‘trauma’ aesthetic to aestheticise loss in new ways? And, finally, to what extent do the texts examined move beyond ‘9/11’, countering the narrative of ‘9/11’ as a national ‘trauma’ to provide alternative portraits of grief? While there is a plethora of literary studies focusing on trauma in ‘9/11 fiction’, which often conflate or misdiagnose grief as trauma, there is not yet a critical study with a sustained focus on grief in post-9/11 literature. Although there is an emerging trend away from traditional trauma theory as a critical paradigm, few scholars have suggested or applied alternate interpretive frameworks. This study reads literary portraits of grief through a variety of analytical lenses provided by cultural theorists, such as Julia Kristeva, Judith Butler, and Lauren Berlant, to create a critical counter-narrative to literary studies of 9/11 ‘trauma’ and the dominant ‘9/11’ narrative of national ‘trauma’ and resilience. <br/><br/>Building on a substantial body of scholarship in grief studies and 9/11 literary studies, “Beyond ‘9/11’: Counter-narratives of Grief in Post-9/11 Literature” makes an original contribution to both fields in several ways: it is the first detailed study of grief in post-9/11 literature and twenty-first-century American literature; it is the first to offer an in-depth analysis of what it considers as abject bodies (and the reclamation of these bodies as political agents) in post-9/11 literature; it includes Rankine’s American Lyric, which is rarely included in studies of 9/11 literature, and departs from established readings of ‘9/11 novels’ to provide new readings; it applies new methodologies to analyse post-9/11 literature, breaking the solidified ties of extant 9/11 literary scholarship to trauma theory, whether in favour of or against; it challenges the dominant medico-psychiatric model of grief to provide an alternate perspective of grief from a literary lens; and, finally, it argues that sustained reflection on the ordinary yet profound experience of grief is (re)productive and filled with the potential to bear various ethical, political, social and aesthetic fruits."]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["Beyond '9/11': counter-narratives of grief in post-9/11 literature"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor.advisor":["McGowan, Philip"],"dc:contributor.sponsor":["AHRC Northern Bridge Doctoral Training Partnership"],"dc:creator":["Donnelly, Kelsie"],"dc:date":["2020-12"],"dc:date.issued":["2020-12"],"dc:description.abstract":["This project examines how Don DeLillo’s Falling Man (2007), Mohsin Hamid’s The Reluctant Fundamentalist (2007) and Claudia Rankine’s Don’t Let Me Be Lonely: An American Lyric (2004) have explored grief in response to the September 11th, 2001 terrorist attacks. It sets out to answer four key questions: is there anything to be gained — politically, socially, ethically, and aesthetically — from lived experiences of grief? How do the texts engage with the grief of abject and ungrievable bodies — from the censored falling body to the perceived Muslim ‘terrorist’ Other to brutalised black bodies — and what are the implications of this engagement? How do the texts depart from a now paradigmatic ‘trauma’ aesthetic to aestheticise loss in new ways? And, finally, to what extent do the texts examined move beyond ‘9/11’, countering the narrative of ‘9/11’ as a national ‘trauma’ to provide alternative portraits of grief? While there is a plethora of literary studies focusing on trauma in ‘9/11 fiction’, which often conflate or misdiagnose grief as trauma, there is not yet a critical study with a sustained focus on grief in post-9/11 literature. Although there is an emerging trend away from traditional trauma theory as a critical paradigm, few scholars have suggested or applied alternate interpretive frameworks. This study reads literary portraits of grief through a variety of analytical lenses provided by cultural theorists, such as Julia Kristeva, Judith Butler, and Lauren Berlant, to create a critical counter-narrative to literary studies of 9/11 ‘trauma’ and the dominant ‘9/11’ narrative of national ‘trauma’ and resilience. <br/><br/>Building on a substantial body of scholarship in grief studies and 9/11 literary studies, “Beyond ‘9/11’: Counter-narratives of Grief in Post-9/11 Literature” makes an original contribution to both fields in several ways: it is the first detailed study of grief in post-9/11 literature and twenty-first-century American literature; it is the first to offer an in-depth analysis of what it considers as abject bodies (and the reclamation of these bodies as political agents) in post-9/11 literature; it includes Rankine’s American Lyric, which is rarely included in studies of 9/11 literature, and departs from established readings of ‘9/11 novels’ to provide new readings; it applies new methodologies to analyse post-9/11 literature, breaking the solidified ties of extant 9/11 literary scholarship to trauma theory, whether in favour of or against; it challenges the dominant medico-psychiatric model of grief to provide an alternate perspective of grief from a literary lens; and, finally, it argues that sustained reflection on the ordinary yet profound experience of grief is (re)productive and filled with the potential to bear various ethical, political, social and aesthetic fruits."],"dc:identifier":["oai:pure.qub.ac.uk/portal:studenttheses/6ff01c08-48c0-42bd-a30c-ac623e110aba","https://pure.qub.ac.uk/en/studentTheses/6ff01c08-48c0-42bd-a30c-ac623e110aba"],"dc:identifier.uri":["https://pure.qub.ac.uk/files/221389561/Final_KD_PhD_Hardbound_Thesis_911_November_2020.pdf"],"dc:language":["eng"],"dc:publisher.department":["School of Arts, English and Languages"],"dc:publisher.institution":["Queen's University Belfast"],"dc:relation.isreferencedby":["https://pure.qub.ac.uk/en/studentTheses/6ff01c08-48c0-42bd-a30c-ac623e110aba"],"dc:rights.embargodate":["2021-12-31"],"dc:rights.embargoreason":["/dk/atira/pure/core/document/studentthesisembargoreason/publicationissues"],"dc:subject":["grief","9/11","trauma","abject","twenty-first century literature","American literature","contemporary literature","resilience","Don DeLillo","Mohsin Hamid","Claudia Rankine"],"dc:title":["Beyond '9/11': counter-narratives of grief in post-9/11 literature"],"dc:type":["Thesis"],"dc:type.qualificationlevel":["Doctoral Thesis"],"dc:type.qualificationname":["Doctor of Philosophy"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-24T03:55:38Z"}