Contemporary American and British Literature: DeLillo, McEwan, and the Impact of 9/11 and Thatcherism
Don DeLillo and 9/11 America
Life
Born in 1936 in the New York City borough of the Bronx, Don DeLillo attended Fordham University. He soon developed an interest in experimental art, jazz, and cinema. His first novel, Americana (1971), explores issues of media and culture through the experiences of a television executive who embarks on a film project to rediscover America. End Zone and Great Jones Street deal with themes of death, celebrity, cults, and consumerism.
In the 1980s, DeLillo moved to Greece for several years. Upon returning to the US, he wrote White Noise (1985). His novel Falling Man (2007) takes its title from the image of an unidentified man who fell from the Twin Towers on September 11, 2001, after the planes struck.
Ian McEwan and Thatcher’s England
Life
Ian McEwan began writing in 1970 after studying at the University of Sussex and the University of East Anglia. He published his first collection of short stories in 1975, followed by his second collection, Between the Sheets, in 1978. His novel The Cement Garden was published the same year.
The Child in Time (1987) was characterized by a humanity and a capacity to evoke feelings and emotions that had been less prominent in his earlier works. McEwan demonstrated greater social and political awareness while striving to preserve the element of mystery he valued in fiction. In The Daydreamer (1994), he returned to the short story form and explored one of his recurring themes: childhood. His later works include the novels Enduring Love (1997), a thriller exploring contemporary neurosis and “New Age” spirituality.
The Thatcher Years and Beyond
The 1979 general election was won by the Conservative Party led by Margaret Thatcher. Her strong will and determination earned her the nickname “the Iron Lady.” The Conservatives believed that industry would be more efficient and competitive in private hands. Thatcher implemented a series of reforms to reduce the power of trade unions.
The 1980s brought an increase in material wealth alongside the emergence of an underclass of poor people. In this climate, professional choices shifted. Ambitious urban professionals, primarily interested in high-earning professions, became a social phenomenon known as “yuppies.”
The Falkland Islands were one of the last British dominions. In 1982, they were claimed by Argentina, leading to the Falklands War.
In 1987, Thatcher introduced the unpopular “poll tax,” which poorer people considered extremely unfair. The fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 marked the end of the Cold War. Margaret Thatcher was succeeded by John Major. Tony Blair won the elections in May 1997, and his government introduced constitutional reforms. Gordon Brown became the leader of the Labour Party in 2007. In the 2010 general election, no party won an overall majority, resulting in a coalition government led by Conservative leader David Cameron.
Milestones
The Fall of the Berlin Wall
Berlin had been politically divided since the end of World War II. The two parts were physically divided in 1961 with the construction of the Berlin Wall. This wall became part of the “Iron Curtain” that separated the communist Eastern Bloc of Europe from the West during the Cold War. The East German authorities claimed that the wall defended communist East Berlin from the capitalist western section of the city. In 1989, rebellions against communism spread throughout Eastern Europe, and all the gates in the Wall were opened for free access on November 9th of that year. This event became a symbol of the end of the Cold War.
September 11, 2001
On September 11, 2001, terrorists attacked the United States. They hijacked four airplanes in mid-flight and flew two of them into the Twin Towers in New York City. The impact caused the buildings to catch fire and collapse. Another plane crashed into the western wall of the Pentagon, and the fourth plane crashed in Pennsylvania. In all, nearly 3,000 people were killed in the 9/11 attacks. The government took measures to enhance national security, tightening security at airports and public buildings. A new cabinet-level ministry, the Department of Homeland Security, was created to protect the United States from terrorism.
Ian McEwan and Thatcher’s England
Themes
Set in England in a near-dystopian future, McEwan’s novel The Child in Time offers his perspective on Thatcher’s England. The protagonist, Stephen, acts as an observer stuck in a state of unreality, perpetually feeling “outside” of time, as if it had stopped at the moment of his daughter Kate’s disappearance. Childhood and its idealization are major themes. Kate is frozen in time, forever the perfect three-year-old in Stephen’s mind.
History is depicted as being connected with loss, filling cities with beggars, causing the collapse of public transport, and leading to the decline of educational provision. The past has been destroyed in the name of efficiency and individual freedom. The birth of Julie and Stephen’s child at the end of the book represents hope for the future.
Style
The story is narrated by an anonymous third-person narrator from the point of view of Stephen Lewis. This limited perspective restricts the reader’s understanding to events that occur within Stephen’s direct observation.
Don DeLillo and 9/11 America
Themes
In Falling Man, DeLillo focuses on the psychological damage his characters have suffered beyond the mourning of the 9/11 attacks. He explores how they cope with this trauma or how they change their lives to avoid it. Throughout the novel, themes of religion, terrorism, death, and the meaning of life are addressed but never fully resolved. Even the hijackers appear momentarily as DeLillo attempts to give them faces and understand their motivations.
Every character in the story tries to move forward, to extract themselves from the past. In Falling Man, the true impact of 9/11 is not political but existential. The attacks severed people from their anchors of normality, disrupting their relationships with each other and the world.
Structure
Falling Man does not have a linear plot. The form is circular, relationships are interrupted, language is fragmented, and the city exists in the physical and emotional limbo of a frozen zone.
mbo of a frozen zone.