The Conflation of Terrorism and Literature: 9/11 and the Aesthetics of Horror and Terror
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Date
2018-06
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Université de M'sila
Abstract
Our era seems to have indeed become marred by the sweep of diseased ideological politics, widespread violent acts and the outbreak of the plague of terrorism. As a result, terrorism established a stronghold on the minds of artists, authors and intellectuals. In fact, many of those who write about terrorism, art and literature address a perceived link between them in the realm of aesthetics. Critics see modern terrorism as not just a political phenomenon but also as an act that incorporates aspects of media, aesthetics, performance art, and symbolism. Though criticizing the similarities between literature and terror is not new, it has become particularly exaggerated since the events of the 9/11. The terrorist attacks on the American soil, which are considered as the most important event in the new millennium, have led to resume the old disputes concerning the conflation of terrorism and art. Therefore, this paper shall look at the mode in which literature responds to the narrative challenges of portraying violence and atrocities after the 9/11. This paper will thus examine the aesthetic and structural similarities between terrorism and literature that are highlighted in recent readings of terrorism to clarify the challenging role of novelists writing terror and to explain the problematic state in critics’ eyes in which artists find themselves vis-à-vis terrorism.
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Keywords
Terrorism, Aesthetics, Art, Literature, 9/11