Homeland (In)security: Terminal Masculinity & the Specter of 9/11 Open Access

Abstract

Abstract

Homeland (In)security is a study of the 9/11 novel and post-9/11 U.S. cinema. It
focuses on a series of literary texts from the early 2000s and on horror films of the past
few years. In particular, this project considers each text as a narrative of rape speaking to
and of white men. Unlike Lee Clark Mitchell's seminal claim of bodily violation as
intrinsic to masculinity, Homeland (In)security proposes an effective termination of male
identity by way of the crisis of traumatized survivorship. For contemporary U.S. authors
such as Art Spiegelman, John Updike, and Michael Cunningham, the September 11
attacks represented an important opportunity to explore various recurring thematic interests--
persecution, community, desire, patriarchy--within narratives colored by disaster. The
inclusion of cinema here fulfills the following wishes: to map the so-termed "crisis" of
masculinity onto one of society's most reflective (and informative) surfaces (i.e.
Hollywood) as well as contribute to a field of genre criticism yet to be linked with
masculinity. In short, it is my hope that the following essays help fill a gap in
academic discourse by entwining gender, cinema, and literary scholarship with an event,
as clinical psychologist Dori Laub has suggested, yet to unearth its public "voice."

Table of Contents

Introduction
The Great White Hope 1

Chapter 1
Memento Mori: On Rape and Recuperation in Art Spiegelman's In the Shadow of No Towers 11

Chapter 2
Almost Famous: Queer Education & John Updike's Terrorist 51

Chapter 3
"An Ecstasy of Murder": Identity Politics and Queer Futurity in Michael Cunningham's Specimen Days 85

Chapter 4
Global Specter, Global Trauma: Male Subjectivity and the Horror Film 119

Bibliography 154

Filmography 165

About this Dissertation

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School	Laney Graduate School
Department	English
Degree	PhD
Submission	Dissertation
Language	English
Research Field	American Studies Literature, American
Keyword	Cultural Studies September 11 attacks
Committee Chair / Thesis Advisor	Kalaidjian, Walter, Emory University
Committee Members	Rusche, Harry, Emory University Elliott, Christopher Michael, Emory University

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