The Presence of Gatsby in the Absence of Towers: 9/11 Literature and the American Dream
African American/African Diaspora
With its poetic language and enduring themes, it is little wonder that the novel’s structural elements have been reimagined in various literary projects. Intriguingly, Fitzgerald’s work has lent itself especially well to the genre of 9/11 literature, particularly Colum McCann’s Let the Great World Spin and Joseph O’Neill’s Netherland. Despite their disparate temporal settings, the underlying economic framework that contributes to the historical context in which these 9/11 novels are situated makes the insertion of Gatsby not only more germane, but also more conducive to an expanded discourse on the relationship between financial success and the racial “other” as a literary trope and mode of characterization. With consideration to the conceptualization of the American Dream, the way in which Gatsby is re-envisioned and invoked in McCann’s and O’Neill’s works, it functions to critique the sustainability of the overarching narrative of American exceptionalism as well as the problematic positioning of immigrants and minorities within this narrative.
The Presence of Gat…Faculty63046Language, Literature, and Interdisciplinary Studies