A Novel ‘Cutting the Cord’ and an Accompanying Exegesis ‘Recasting Dystopia: Twenty First Century Novels and Home-grown Terrorism’
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Date
2013
Authors
Molt, Natasha
Editors
Advisors
Schwerdt, Dianne
Lefevre, Carol
Lefevre, Carol
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Thesis
Citation
Statement of Responsibility
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Abstract
This creative writing thesis comprises a creative work, the novel “Cutting the Cord”, and its accompanying exegesis “Recasting Dystopia: Twenty-First Century Novels and Home-grown Terrorism”. Both the novel and exegesis are concerned with interrogating how terrorism within Western countries relates to a dystopian and utopian dialectic. “Cutting the Cord” is a terrorist novel that explores notions of fanaticism, psychological aberration and dystopia through the experiences of its central protagonist, Amira Knox. Amira, a twenty-two-year old Australian has been groomed since childhood by her family to commit acts of terrorism against the world’s capitalist elites. Her family leads the “Authenticity Movement”, an unconventional terrorist cult with grandiose non-religious pretensions and a melange of rather vague ideas for eliminating a virus of “inauthenticity”. The narrative concentrates on how the cult creates a dystopia for both its victims and perpetrators, and centres on Amira’s quest to leave her terrorist identity behind. The exegesis analyses specific works of terrorist fiction, including my own, as reconfigurations of critical dystopian writing. In the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks, the then American Bush administration, allied countries and mainstream media constructed a demonising discourse about the Arab as terrorist, exacerbating the potential allure of a violent ideology for minority Islamic Westerners. The exegesis examines three twenty-first century novels that work as a counterforce to that demonising narrative: John Updike’s Terrorist (2006), David Goodwillie’s American Subversive (2010) and my own “Cutting the Cord”. The novels are analysed in terms of the apparent, but often overlooked, relationship between terrorist fiction novels that feature home-grown terrorist protagonists (“HGTP novels”) and the critical dystopia, arguing that there is a striking continuity between these two seemingly different genres. The exegesis argues that the deployment of critical dystopian elements enables these terrorist fiction texts to challenge prevailing discourse about terrorism while simultaneously silhouetting a utopian hope for a more harmonious world.
School/Discipline
School of Humanities : English and Creative Writing
Dissertation Note
Thesis (Ph.D.) -- University of Adelaide, School of Humanities, 2013
Provenance
This electronic version is made publicly available by the University of Adelaide in accordance with its open access policy for student theses. Copyright in this thesis remains with the author. This thesis may incorporate third party material which has been used by the author pursuant to Fair Dealing exceptions. If you are the owner of any included third party copyright material you wish to be removed from this electronic version, please complete the take down form located at: http://www.adelaide.edu.au/legals
Description
Vol. 1 'Cutting the Cord': A Novel -- Vol. 2 'Recasting Dystopia: Twenty First Century Novels and Home-grown Terrorism’: Exegesis