Transatlantic Literature and Culture After 9/11

By: Kristine A. Miller

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Synopsis: Looking back on more than a decade of the US-run and UK-supported "war on terror," this volume examines how transatlantic literature and culture have challenged notions of American exceptionalism since September 11, 2001. The essays look not only at but also beyond the compulsion to relive this moment of terror, whether in recurring episodes of silencing trauma or repeating loops of media images. Conceiving of 9/11 as both a uniquely American trauma and a shared event in global history, the collection reexamines Ground Zero through the lenses of imperial power and cosmopolitan exchange. The book's subtitle challenges readers to engage this perspective by rethinking the paradox of paradise, a condition of both never-ending bliss and everlasting death. As the self-appointed economic and military gatekeeper of an imagined global paradise, America plays a dangerous moral and political game. This volume asks whether the United States has perhaps chosen the wrong side of paradise by waging war on terror rather than working for global peace.