Muslim Representations in Two Post-September 2001 American Novels

2012 ◽  
Vol 29 (2) ◽  
pp. 64-89
Author(s):  
Seyed Mohammad Marandi ◽  
Zeinab Ghasemi Tari
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
American Literature ◽  
Middle Ages ◽  
New York Times ◽  
The United States ◽  
September 11 ◽  
First Century ◽  
American Novels ◽  
September 11 Attacks ◽  
Significant Point

Several novels have appeared after the September 11 attacks which deal directly or indirectly with the effect of the event on individuals, both inside and outside the United States. Though, the novels often claim to deal with the posttraumatic aftermath of the incident, the writers regularly use Orientalist stereotyping, and it seems that after September 11 these attitudes toward Muslims and Arabs have hardened and even strengthened the old Orientalist discourse. This paper shall focus on Don Delillo’s Falling Man and John Updike’s Terrorist because both novels were New York Times bestsellers and both novelists are prominent figures in American literature. It attempts to examine the way in which the novelists have responded to the September 11, 2001 attacks and how Muslims and their ideologies are represented. The significant point is that though these novels have been written in the twenty-first century, where there has been an increase in contacts and information about Muslims, the writers often use the same cliches and stereotypes about Muslims that have existed since the Middle Ages.

Muslim Representations in Two Post-September 2001 American Novels

2012 ◽  
Vol 29 (2) ◽  
pp. 64-89
Author(s):  
Seyed Mohammad Marandi ◽  
Zeinab Ghasemi Tari
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
American Literature ◽  
Middle Ages ◽  
New York Times ◽  
The United States ◽  
September 11 ◽  
First Century ◽  
American Novels ◽  
September 11 Attacks ◽  
Significant Point

Several novels have appeared after the September 11 attacks which deal directly or indirectly with the effect of the event on individuals, both inside and outside the United States. Though, the novels often claim to deal with the posttraumatic aftermath of the incident, the writers regularly use Orientalist stereotyping, and it seems that after September 11 these attitudes toward Muslims and Arabs have hardened and even strengthened the old Orientalist discourse. This paper shall focus on Don Delillo’s Falling Man and John Updike’s Terrorist because both novels were New York Times bestsellers and both novelists are prominent figures in American literature. It attempts to examine the way in which the novelists have responded to the September 11, 2001 attacks and how Muslims and their ideologies are represented. The significant point is that though these novels have been written in the twenty-first century, where there has been an increase in contacts and information about Muslims, the writers often use the same cliches and stereotypes about Muslims that have existed since the Middle Ages.

This Is Your Book: Marketing America to Itself

PMLA ◽  
2003 ◽  
Vol 118 (1) ◽  
pp. 90-102 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lori Ween
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
African American ◽  
American Literature ◽  
New York Times ◽  
The United States ◽  
Ivory Tower ◽  
American Novel ◽  
Per Se ◽  
Book World ◽  
Important Shift

In February 2001, Knopf Publishing Company, a division of Random House, reportedly purchased the rights to publish two novels by Stephen L. Carter for $4 million. As the Daily Variety Gotham stated, “Yale law professor Stephen L. Carter emerged from the ivory tower last week and shook the book world from its February doldrums” (Bing 43). And the New York Times wrote, “The advance is among the highest ever paid for a first novel and is all the more unusual because of the author's background. Mr. Carter, 46, is an African-American who has written several works of nonfiction, including ‘Reflections of an Affirmative Action Baby’ and ‘The Culture of Disbelief‘” (Kirkpatrick, “Knopf”). Whether this purchase is considered “unusual” because it is a first novel or because the author is African American, it is part of an important shift for American literature: the jacket art, prepublication publicity, and sales materials shape this novel as a mainstream, blockbuster, best-selling legal thriller, not as an African American novel per se. The mainstream feel of Carter's novel brings up pertinent questions about race, literature, and the marketing of ethnic identity in the United States. Looking at the positioning of this novel allows us to understand how the publishers, newspaper reporters, and marketers have planted seeds that will influence the reception of the text by reviewers and readers.

Surpassing Certainty with Janet Mock: A Dialogue

MELUS ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 45 (1) ◽  
pp. 185-200
Author(s):  
Timothy S Lyle
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
American Literature ◽  
Women Of Color ◽  
African American Literature ◽  
New York Times ◽  
Transgender Women ◽  
First Century ◽  
Space And Place ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Public Sphere

Abstract Janet Mock—writer, activist, television host, director—has become a leading voice for transgender women of color in the twenty-first century. In 2014, Mock published Redefining Realness with Atria Books. Shortly thereafter, Mock became a New York Times best-selling writer and garnered the critical praise of folks such as bell hooks, Melissa Harris-Perry, Oprah Winfrey, and more. Hooks described Mock’s work as a guide to transformation, Harris-Perry situated her work in the deep tradition of life writing in African American literature, and Winfrey called her a “fearless new voice” who “changed my way of thinking.” In 2017, Mock published her second memoir, Surpassing Certainty, marking a rare moment in which a transgender woman-of-color writer released a second book with a major publisher. During our conversation at Babbalucci, a restaurant in her beloved Harlem neighborhood, Mock reflected on her first book in light of the writing of her sophomore release. She also shared insight about writing love and dating storylines for transgender women of color, an amplified focus in Surpassing Certainty, and she discussed the dynamics of disclosure in narrative and life. Further, she ruminated about what constitutes home for her and how to write about space and place. Such remarks importantly center her Hawaiian roots and her multi-ethnic identity. Finally, Mock offered her most recent thoughts on being a trans woman of color in the public sphere in a turbulent national climate—particularly for folks on the margins of the already-marginalized.

A Twenty-First-Century Subway

Last Subway ◽  
2020 ◽  
pp. 157-191
Author(s):  
Philip Mark Plotch
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
Real Estate ◽  
World Trade Center ◽  
September 11 ◽  
First Century ◽  
Real Estate Developer ◽  
Lower Manhattan ◽  
September 11 Attacks ◽  
Trade Center ◽  
Bond Referendum

This chapter explores how the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) relied on debt to pay for 65 percent of its 2000–2004 capital program, compared to 37 percent in the previous program. When negotiating the MTA's $17.1 billion five-year capital program, Governor George Pataki and the legislative leaders agreed to place a $3.8 billion bond referendum on the November 2000 ballot. The referendum failed, but instead of eliminating funding for the Second Avenue subway, Pataki wanted the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey to help pay for the new subway by selling off some of its extensive real estate holdings, most notably the World Trade Center in Lower Manhattan. At the same time, the governor was turning over the reins of the MTA from Virgil Conway to a real estate developer named Peter Kalikow, who would be the first MTA chair to champion the Second Avenue subway since William Ronan in the early 1970s. In early 2001, the MTA said it would begin construction on the Second Avenue subway in 2004. On September 11, however, building a Second Avenue subway was not a priority to anyone, anywhere. Nevertheless, the aftermath of the September 11 attacks highlighted how the subway had prevented the city's economy from collapsing.

scholarly journals Overcoming the Polemics of Intolerance

2002 ◽  
Vol 19 (3) ◽  
pp. i-vii
Author(s):  
Louay M. Safi
Keyword(s):  
Middle Ages ◽  
The United States ◽  
September 11 ◽  
Religious Right ◽  
Reform Movements ◽  
Islamic Reform ◽  
September 11 Attacks ◽  
High Esteem ◽  
Post September 11 ◽  
Fundamental Values

The September 11 attacks on the United States have had many dire conse­quences. In addition to destroying innocent lives and devastating the lively dreams of the individuals and families caught in the web of death and destruction, the attacks have reinvigorated a few bigoted spirits who found an excellent opportunity to spread their bigotry in the name of fighting intolerance in post-September 11 's murky atmosphere of fear and uncer­tainty. Since that horrific date, a new unholy alliance has been formed among leading members of the Religious Right. Its avowed aim is to vilify Islam and demonize even the most moderate Muslim voices. The most recent, vicious, and mean-spirited attacks to date on .Islam have created a new paradox: Islam, which historically has provided an out­standing model of religious accommodation and tolerance, stands accused of intolerance by intolerant and bigoted people. This paradox deserves extensive attention and study . .In addition, the worldview and mindset behind the mean-spirited attacks on Islam by individuals whose outlooks and spir­its recall those of the Middle Ages must be analyzed deeply and understood thoroughly. ln this editorial, I will argue briefly that the accusation of intol­erance leveled against Islam is unfounded and that Islam is an essential part­ner in any effort to develop a more tolerant and peaceful world. Islam is essential for developing a gentler and more caring world, because it holds in high esteem the most fundamental values that make a tolerant and pluralist society possible: equality, freedom, and justice, as well as interracial and interreligious solidarity. The emphasis that Islam places on these values is manifested in the Qur'an, the Sunnah, and the Companions' exemplary lives; in the Muslim society's historical experi­ence; and in the ethos of contemporary Islamic reform movements ...

scholarly journals The germs of terror – Bioterrorism and science communication after September 11

2006 ◽  
Vol 05 (03) ◽  
pp. A02
Author(s):  
Maria Chiara Montani
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
New York ◽  
Biomedical Research ◽  
Science Communication ◽  
New York Times ◽  
The United States ◽  
September 11 ◽  
Daily Newspapers ◽  
Anthrax Spores ◽  
Research Findings

The attacks of September 11 2001 and in particular, the sending of letters containing anthrax spores the following October had a profound effect on society, and at the same time on science and its communicative mechanisms. Through a quanto-qualitative analysis of articles taken from four publications: two daily newspapers, the Corriere della Sera from Italy and the New York Times from the United States and two science magazines, Science and Nature, we have shown how the aforementioned events provoked the emergence of media attention regarding bioterrorism. A closer reading of the articles shows that today, science – including that found in science magazines – is closely related to politics, economics and the debate over the freedom to practice communicate. The very mechanisms of communication between scientists were changed as a result of this debate, as can be seen from the signing of the Denver Declaration in February 2003, which brought about the preventative self-censorship of publication of biomedical research findings.

Mapping September 11, 2001: Cartographic Narrative in the Print Media

2004 ◽  
pp. 13-27 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert R. Churchill ◽  
Suzanne J. Slarsky
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
Print Media ◽  
Electronic Publishing ◽  
World Trade Center ◽  
New York Times ◽  
The United States ◽  
September 11 ◽  
Trade Center ◽  
The Times ◽  
Public Reaction

The attacks of September 11, 2001 on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon were unprecedented in scope if not in their fundamental nature. While the United States moved toward resurrection of Reagan’s Strategic Defense Initiative, known popularly as “Star Wars”, and focused its resources on sophisticated weaponry, terrorists with primitive weapons turned commercial aircraft into guided missiles. The suddenness and enormity of the events, coupled with the fact that so many people were acquainted with victims of the attacks, created a sense of concern and confusion that was more pervasive and ubiquitous than evoked by either the 1993 bombing of the Trade Center or the 1995 attack on the Murrah Federal Building. In the immediate aftermath, the events of September 11attracted the sympathies of the entire country, evoked both an outpouring of patriotism and a rhetoric of retribution, and temporarily redefined task saliencies (Wright, 1978) as firefighters and law enforcement officers became heroes of the moment.The media also assumed a heightened level of importance as people turned to television, the Internet, and print for information and for insight and meaning. On September 11, the New York Times recorded over 21 million page views on their site, more than twice the previous record, and a six-month circulation audit by the Times following September 11 showed daily gains of approximately 42,000 newspapers (Robinson, 2002). Since the number of maps appearing in the media has grown rapidly with the advent of desktop computing and electronic publishing technologies (Monmonier, 1989; 2001), it is not surprising that much of the story of September 11 has been illustrated with maps. At the very least, these maps offer distinctive insights that help define both the events and the public reaction, but a paradigm shift that emphasizes their textual nature suggests that in addition to illustrating the attacks and the subsequent events, maps cast their own narratives of these events. Our purpose here is to explore these narratives through a systematic examination of maps that appeared in the print media in the period immediately following September 11.

The “Japanese Turn” in Fine Dining in the United States, 1980–2020

2020 ◽  
Vol 20 (2) ◽  
pp. 45-54
Author(s):  
Samuel H. Yamashita
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
New York ◽  
Los Angeles ◽  
San Francisco ◽  
San Francisco Bay Area ◽  
The United States ◽  
First Century ◽  
Further Training ◽  
Bay Area ◽  
Wide Acceptance

In the 1970s, Japanese cooks began to appear in the kitchens of nouvelle cuisine chefs in France for further training, with scores more arriving in the next decades. Paul Bocuse, Alain Chapel, Joël Robuchon, and other leading French chefs started visiting Japan to teach, cook, and sample Japanese cuisine, and ten of them eventually opened restaurants there. In the 1980s and 1990s, these chefs' frequent visits to Japan and the steady flow of Japanese stagiaires to French restaurants in Europe and the United States encouraged a series of changes that I am calling the “Japanese turn,” which found chefs at fine-dining establishments in Los Angeles, New York City, and later the San Francisco Bay Area using an ever-widening array of Japanese ingredients, employing Japanese culinary techniques, and adding Japanese dishes to their menus. By the second decade of the twenty-first century, the wide acceptance of not only Japanese ingredients and techniques but also concepts like umami (savory tastiness) and shun (seasonality) suggest that Japanese cuisine is now well known to many American chefs.

Terrified

2014 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher A. Bail
Keyword(s):  
Public Discourse ◽  
The United States ◽  
September 11 ◽  
Theoretical Argument ◽  
Muslim Americans ◽  
Media Messages ◽  
American Media ◽  
The Face ◽  
September 11 Attacks ◽  
The Public Sphere

In July 2010, Terry Jones, the pastor of a small fundamentalist church in Florida, announced plans to burn two hundred Qur'ans on the anniversary of the September 11 attacks. Though he ended up canceling the stunt in the face of widespread public backlash, his threat sparked violent protests across the Muslim world that left at least twenty people dead. This book demonstrates how the beliefs of fanatics like Jones are inspired by a rapidly expanding network of anti-Muslim organizations that exert profound influence on American understanding of Islam. The book traces how the anti-Muslim narrative of the political fringe has captivated large segments of the American media, government, and general public, validating the views of extremists who argue that the United States is at war with Islam and marginalizing mainstream Muslim-Americans who are uniquely positioned to discredit such claims. Drawing on cultural sociology, social network theory, and social psychology, the book shows how anti-Muslim organizations gained visibility in the public sphere, commandeered a sense of legitimacy, and redefined the contours of contemporary debate, shifting it ever outward toward the fringe. The book illustrates the author's pioneering theoretical argument through a big-data analysis of more than one hundred organizations struggling to shape public discourse about Islam, tracing their impact on hundreds of thousands of newspaper articles, television transcripts, legislative debates, and social media messages produced since the September 11 attacks. The book also features in-depth interviews with the leaders of these organizations, providing a rare look at how anti-Muslim organizations entered the American mainstream.

“Little Plants in the Country”: Henry Ford's Village Industries and the Beginning of Decentralized Technology in Modern America

Prospects ◽  
1988 ◽  
Vol 13 ◽  
pp. 181-223 ◽  
Author(s):  
Howard P. Segal
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Decision Making ◽  
New York ◽  
Information Processing ◽  
Real Estate ◽  
New York Times ◽  
The United States ◽  
Physical Proximity ◽  
The World ◽  
Word Processors

“Technology Spurs Decentralization Across the Country.” So reads a 1984 New York Times article on real-estate trends in the United States. The contemporary revolution in information processing and transmittal now allows large businesses and other institutions to disperse their offices and other facilities across the country, even across the world, without loss of the policy- and decision-making abilities formerly requiring regular physical proximity. Thanks to computers, word processors, and the like, decentralization has become a fact of life in America and other highly technological societies.

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