Twenty-First Century Fictions of Terrorism - by Arin Keeble (Paperback)

About the Book

A comprehensive study of how fiction has depicted and responded to terrorism in the twenty-first century

Book Synopsis

Examining novels by celebrated authors, some neglected and some brand new texts, Arin Keeble offers a detailed analysis of the ways novels from around the world have represented terrorism in the early twenty-first century. Over five chapters, he uncovers a movement away from event-based narratives toward depictions of terrorism as a violent symptom or feature of twenty-first century world-systems and neoliberalism. Beginning with the early literary response to 9/11 and the 9/11 novel genre, the book moves through more recent depictions of the endless 'war on terror', state terror, white nationalist terror and historical narratives of terror that resonate in the current political climate. In doing so, it examines the changing ways literature has sought to make sense of both the reasons why terrorism occurs and the effects it has on victims, survivors and international and intercultural relations.

Review Quotes

A masterful synthetic account of how the fiction of the first quarter of the century has wrestled with the concept of terrorism. Keeble has written both a timely study and one that will influence literary histories of the period for years to come.

--Andrew Hoberek, University of Missouri

Looking beyond the exceptionalism of 9/11, Keeble's theoretical interventions and meticulous close readings offer compelling contexts of trauma and structural violence demonstrating how terror gets framed between and across social and cultural institutions of government, media and industry.

--Amina Yaqin, University of Exeter