The fear of new barbarians: The drama of 9/11 terrorism and its threat on the west in Driss Chraïbi’s L’Homme qui venait du passé

Abstract

ABSTRACT This article analyses the novel of renowned Moroccan French author Driss Chraïbi L’Homme qui venait du passé (The Man Who Came from the Past), which charts the landscape of terrorism and the fear it has generated in the west in the post-9/11 era. This detective novel offers critical interventions into forms of recent global conflicts – 9/11 terrorism, Islamist fundamentalism, and the west’s war on terror – offering alternative visions of agency, security, and solidarity. It shows how 9/11 events resulted in identifying Islamist terrorists as the paradigmatic new barbarians who threaten western civilization with chaos. Through a close reading of the text, this article examines the ways in which Chraïbi addresses the complicated social and political aspects of terrorism and its threat to western democratic states. It argues that the novel imagines a reconciliation of “us” with “them”, but also reflects a post-9/11 culture of fear and continued anxieties about terrorism.