User Submitted Blog Post: The 9/11 Novel Problem

For the past week Japan's Mainichi Daily News has been running an interesting series of interviews with novelist Haruki Murakami. (It may go without saying that Murakami has written some fine novels about Japanese life and the way American culture has a way of weaving its way into it. Everbody who knows his work has particular favorites; mine are Norwegian Wood and Dance, Dance, Dance.) Earlier in the week he spoke about his work as a translator of American classics, The Catcher in the Rye and The Great Gatsby most notably. In the interview portion running today, he speaks more broadly about America's role in the post 9/11 world.

"Since [9/11] I get the strong impression that America is like a body that has curled up into a stiff ball," he says. "It's really more a country that uses its muscle with greater flexibility, but it got so stifling there for a while it was almost like you couldn't even tell a joke. There's still a bit of stiffness there now, but it's slowly starting to loosen up."

That statement reminds me of how American fiction writers are still struggling with how to address 9/11. The results are spotty at best. I'm currently making my way through Andre Dubus III's The Garden of Last Days, which fictionalizes the hijackers' trips to strip clubs shortly before the tragedy. I admire its attempt to get into the heads of the terrorists, though its Airport-style structure makes it something of a fluffy read. And there's a worry among American publishers that even this may have trouble with readers: Terry Teachout recently noted the comically overheated promotional patter for the book. Maybe it's that a smart, daringly comic novel about 9/11, Ken Kalfus' A Disorder Peculiar to the Country, didn't make the bestseller lists; maybe it's that Don DeLillo's grim Falling Man was one of his weakest books. But we do have a problem shaking off our stiffness about this particular event.

I do have hopes, though. On my reading pile is Joseph O'Neill's Netherland, which is already one of the best-reviewed novels of the year. Every critic knows to be skeptical when the New York critics enthuse over a New York novel, but the story does sound promising---and the fact that writers are willing to address 9/11 head-on more often is only good news.