© Columbia University Press
Out of the Blue: September 11 and the Novel
Paper, 240 pages, 5 illus.
ISBN: 978-0-231-14937-2
$24.50
/ £17.00
July, 2009
Cloth, 240 pages, 5 illus.
ISBN: 978-0-231-14936-5
$79.50
/ £55.00
"Illuminating." — Nigel Rodenhurst, Times Higher Education Supplement
"Highly recommended." — Choice
"From the often moving simplicity of victims' telephone messages to immediate and persistent political uses and abuses and the complex variations of literary 'counter-narratives' and theoretical reflections, this book explores the possibilities and pitfalls of trauma theory in trying to account for catastrophic events and the attempts to come to terms with them, their voids, and their aftershocks." — Dominick LaCapra, Cornell University, and author of History and Its Limits: Human, Animal, Violence
"One of this study's key strengths lies in its confident and mature voice, which can be discerned both in Kristiaan Versluys's ease and breadth of reference to earlier twentieth-century works and in his intimate and informed understanding of the geographical and cultural landscapes of New York. Out of the Blue undoubtedly has the potential to become a defining work and an invaluable point of reference." — Anne Whitehead, Newcastle University, and author of Trauma Fiction
"In a series of elegant readings, Kristiaan Versluys probes the paradox at the heart of all literary responses to traumatic events: the impossibility of expressing the inexpressible and the necessity of bearing witness to extreme violence. Combining ethical intelligence and nuanced analyses, Versluys provides a readable introduction to a rapidly emerging genre. This insightful book will interest all who are struggling to make sense of the trauma of September 11 and its aftermath." — Michael Rothberg, author of Multidirectional Memory: Remembering the Holocaust in the Age of Decolonization