The Presence of Gatsby in the Absence of Towers-9/11 Literature and the American Dream
Talia Fishbine
Publication: Volume 2 Issue 1
Abstract
F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby has successfully maintained its position as a staple of American literature for close to a century. The way in which 9/11, particularly as a literary genre, has interacted with the widely read classic necessitates an examination of its position in a contemporary, post-9/11 landscape. Arguably Gatsby’s most significant theme, the critique of the American Dream, is one that is revisited in works such as Colum McCann’s Let the Great World Spin and Joseph O’Neill’s Netherland. Through the analysis of these two novels alongside Fitzegerald’s, this project posits that, despite the ever-lingering influences of American exceptionalism, the notion of racially-motivated economic subordination impedes the sustainability of the American Dream.
Keywords: American literature, 9/11 literature, The American Dream, Capitalism, Race, The Great Gatsby
Talia Fishbine (salid100@mail.chapman.edu) is an English graduate student at University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland, USA. Her current project seeks to introduce early American literature into an understanding of the 9/11 genre. Her research interests include contemporary American literature and culture, expressions of national identity, and countercultural movements.