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AWEJ for Translation & Literary Studies, Volume3, Number1. February 2019                            Pp. 100- 112

The Representation of Muslim Characters in Post 9/11 Fiction

Department of English Language and Literature
Faculty of Letters and Languages, University of Mustapha Stambouli
Mascara, Algeria

Department of English
Faculty of Letters and Languages, University of Tlemcen
Tlemcen, Algeria

Abstract:

Abstract PDF

In the wake of September 11th, attacks, several writers seek to depict the event’s impact on the country and its population. However, at the very beginning novelists seem to support the victimization of Americans and accuse the Muslims but later, many voices, including Muslim as well as non-Muslim writers, contribute through giving a voice to the ‘enemy’, and the American novelist Jess Walter is no exception. This analytical study, then, aims at providing evidence that Walter portrays Muslim characters in his work The Zero (2006) and that he does so to deconstruct the idea that Americans are totally innocent and victims while Muslims are the only entity to blame. The present paper, thus, is an attempt to pinpoint that through depicting several characters, including American and Middle Eastern ones, as reacting to the dominating ‘truth’, Walter seems to be giving a voice to the voiceless and providing readers with a different version of reality. Therefore, the ultimate purpose of this study is to prove that The Zero can be considered as a counter-discourse.

Cite as:

ABDERRAZAG, S, , & SERIR, I. (2019). The Representation of Muslim Characters in Post 9/11 Fiction. Arab World English Journal for Translation & Literary Studies, 3 (1) 100-112.

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Sara Abderrazag holds a magistére degree in English literature from the University of Jordan,
Amman and is currently preparing her phd in the university of Tlemcen, ALGERIA. She is an
assistant teacher in the department of English language and literature at Mustapha Stambouli
University-Mascara, ALGERIA. Her main research interests are: Women Literature, modern
fiction and world literature in translation. ORCID ID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8888-8021

Ilhem Serir is a teacher of English literature and Dialectology. She is the writer of several books
in language and literature including: Lectures on Dialectology: Some Ideas and Reflections (2011),
Larmes et Chandelles: A Translated Novel from Arabic to French (2012), Romantic Poetry for
Analysis: Lectures and Readings (2014), and Introducing Poetry Study: Analysis (2016). ORCID
ID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9707-5548