Lightning Rods Inaugural Seminar

The Humanities Research Centre Lightning Rods Seminars offer a forum for informal discussions on texts, events and ideas that are sparking wide debate.  The first session will take the 9/11 novel as its subject, with a special focus on Don DeLillo’s Falling Man.  All are welcome.

Some literary critics have argued that 9/11 literature has been largely disappointing, avoiding formal innovation or challenging political stances in favour of familiar techniques and a sentimental return to hearth and home.  Yet many of these novels have been touted in the popular press as giving meaning to a horrific and shocking event.  In light of DeLillo's status as a preeminent contemporary American novelist, Falling Man offers an ideal ground for evaluating such arguments.  Does DeLillo manage to tell his readers something about 9/11 that they do not already know?  If so, what is it, and how does he do so?