Table Of Content“Trauma and Fictions of the “War on Terror”: Disrupting Memory
lucidly and urgently sheds light on multiple processes and forms of
marginalisation in the transnational post-9/11 trauma context.
Sarah O’Brien’s important book affirms the role of postcolonial
literary interventions and imaginative geographies in bringing
attention to invisible and less visible experiences of violence. This
study enlarges and transforms our understanding of Afghanistan’s
haunted and haunting histories in a global context by presenting
incisive readings of the ethics and politics of representation of
trauma in Khaled Hosseini (The Kite Runner), Nadeem Aslam
(The Wasted Vigil, The Blind Man’s Garden), and Kamila Shamsie
(Burnt Shadows).”
Dr Rita Sakr, Maynooth University, Ireland
“This book destabilises our traditional notions of hegemonic post-9/11
narratives by offering new insight into the traumas inflicted by U.S.
imperial power on civilians and its increasing pursuit of the “war on
terror”. Most importantly, through counter-narratives written by
marginalised voices, the author’s provocative arguments situate new
and insightful discussions on U.S. imperial rule not encountered since
Anne McClintock’s Imperial Leather.”
Shane A. McCoy, Lecturer, Department of English at Middle
Tennessee State University, USA
Trauma and Fictions of the “War
on Terror”
This book explores the ways in which transnational fiction in the post-9/11
era can intervene in discourse surrounding the “war on terror” to
advocate for marginalised perspectives. Trauma and Fictions of the
“War on Terror” conceptualises global political discourse about the
“war on terror” as incongruous, with transnational memory frames
instituted in Western nations centralising 9/11 as uniquely traumatic,
excluding the historical and present-day experiences of Afghans under
Western—specifically American—hegemonic violence. Recent develop-
ments in trauma studies explain how dominant Western trauma theory
participates in this exclusion, failing to account for the ongoing suffering
common to non-Western, colonial, and postcolonial contexts. O’Brien
explores how Khaled Hosseini (The Kite Runner), Nadeem Aslam
(The Wasted Vigil, The Blind Man’s Garden), and Kamila Shamsie
(Burnt Shadows) represent marginalised perspectives in the context of
the “war on terror”.
Sarah O’Brien (PhD) completed her doctoral work at Maynooth
University, Ireland, in 2019. Her research areas relate to trauma,
memory, South Asian fictions of the “war on terror”, and postcolonial
and world literatures more broadly.
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For more information about this series, please visit: https://www.routledge.com/
Routledge-Research-in-American-Literature-and-Culture/book-series/RRAL
Trauma and Fictions of
the “War on Terror”
Disrupting Memory
Sarah O’Brien
First published 2021
by Routledge
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and by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon, OX14 4RN
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an
informa business
© 2021 Taylor & Francis
The right of Sarah O’Brien to be identified as author of this work
has been asserted by her in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of
the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or
reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic,
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
A catalog record has been requested for this book
ISBN: 978-0-367-44303-0 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-0-367-77647-3 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-1-003-17221-5 (ebk)
Typeset in Sabon
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For my parents.
Contents
Acknowledgements xi
Introduction 1
Introduction 1
Transnational Memory Discourse 9
Transnationalism and the Post-9/11 Trauma
Narrative 14
Media, Memory, and the “War on Terror” 17
Trauma and Post-9/11 Fiction from the Margins 22
1 Translating Trauma in Khaled Hosseini’s The Kite
Runner 36
Introduction 36
Bildungsroman 40
Trauma 48
Emigration to America 55
Witnessing and Return to Agency 58
Conclusion 63
2 Shared Graves: Empire and Trauma in Nadeem Aslam’s
The Wasted Vigil 67
Introduction 67
Aslam as Transnational Writer 68
Sites of Memory and Trauma: The House 71
Lara, David, and the Cold War in Afghanistan 75
Post-9/11 Afghanistan: Casa, Dunia, and James 81
Conclusion: A Shared Grave 90
