RE-THINKING CRISIS: NORMS, NARRATIVE, AND DON DELILLO'S SEPTEMBER 11

Abstract

It is generally acknowledged that ‘crisis’ has become an inflated term with its increasingly widespread usage in both popular and intellectual circles, putting it at risk of losing its analytic specificity. Indeed, there appears to be a need for further critical inquiry into crisis as a conceptual term. Central to this project is a question of the structure of crisis, which I explore through the September 11 writings of American writer Don DeLillo. This thesis first identifies in “In The Ruins Of The Future” (2001) a norm-oriented structure-of-crisis that underpins ‘crisis’ as it is commonly understood, and which is compatible with narrative structure as well. Subsequently, an alternative, competing structure-of-crisis is conceptualised through, and illustrated within Falling Man (2007). This alternative structure, termed ‘pure crisis’, is a closed moment that eliminates all external norms in its occurrence, is centred around loss and consequently gives rise to a state of suspension that is fundamentally incompatible with narrative progression. In paying attention to the structures-of-crisis inherent within different discourses of crisis, it is hoped that this project opens a space for approaching the concept of crisis with greater nuance.