Falling Man as a 9/11 Counter-narrative: Non-disaster Narrative, Möbius Time Loop and Multi-perspectivity

Abstract

The American official discourse about the September 11 attacks has focused on how the collective trauma of Americans can be overcome without self-reflection. “Official narratives” use patriotism as the solution to collective trauma. The relationship between previous U.S. historical events and the September 11 attacks has not been examined in depth by the mainstream media, despite terrorism on U.S. soil not being unprecedented. Meanwhile, counter-narratives in literature and films have wrestled with self-pity, but have not been able to overcome completely the official narrative ornamented by patriotism and sentimentalism. However, counter-narratives have challenged the notion of the September 11 attacks as an isolated and unprecedented historical event. Instead, they posit that these attacks should be understood within the broader historical trajectory of the relationship between the United States and the rest of the world. In addition, the voices of “the others” have been heard and embedded within the context. Through these representations, the impact of the September 11 attacks can be reevaluated and reinterpreted beyond collective trauma and victimhood. Falling Man suggests a counter-narrative by challenging the stereotypical chronology of narrating a story and shedding light on “the others’” voices using a multi-perspective approach. DeLillo attempts to avoid the trap of the disaster genre and pursues an alternative way of describing the unique characteristics of 9/11 with its circular structure or Möbius time loop. The novel also includes the narratives of survivors, survivors’ families, a former terrorist, and hijackers while wrestling with the issue of how to represent the September 11 attacks, even though the attempt is limited to allow a relatively small portion of the hijackers.