Architectures of enmity in Andre Dubus III’s The Garden of Last Days
In the aftermath of 9/11 terrorist attacks, Islam and Muslims became the subject of representation in the American literary milieu. American novelist Andre Dubus III was one of those who have appropriated the attacks directly by characterizing 9/11 hijackers within his bestseller novel, The Garde...
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| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Penerbit Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia
2018
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| Online Access: | http://journalarticle.ukm.my/17670/1/22818-89269-1-PB.pdf http://journalarticle.ukm.my/17670/ https://ejournal.ukm.my/gema/issue/view/1146 |
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| Summary: | In the aftermath of 9/11 terrorist attacks, Islam and Muslims became the subject of
representation in the American literary milieu. American novelist Andre Dubus III was one
of those who have appropriated the attacks directly by characterizing 9/11 hijackers within
his bestseller novel, The Garden of Last Days (2009). This paper sets out to investigate Andre
Dubus’ III demonstration of Islam and Muslims in line with their association with terrorism
and intolerance towards non-Muslims. We also seek to contextualize Dubus’ exemplification
of the Muslim Other within pertaining geopolitical and Orientalist inferences. As post-9/11
literature has been highly immersed in the cultural, colonial and political ramifications of the
attacks, both postcolonial and geopolitical concepts are incorporated into a geopolitical
postcolonial approach. Geopolitical postcolonial approach is meant to illustrate the
narrative’s exemplification of Islam and Muslim in view of the geopolitical consequences of
9/11 attacks as well as the long established Western knowledge about the Orient, Orientalism.
Architectures of enmity are the deliberated schemes exploited to shape the other into a
differentiated and abhorred adversary to initiate violence against him/her. Dubus’
architectures of enmity will be examined within four constructs, specifically, ‘hatred,’
‘Islamic agency,’ ‘clashing Islam’ and ‘Arabic antagonism.’ In The Garden of Last Days, the
Muslim Other is exemplified as the enemy of the West. Islam is illustrated as an antagonist
ideology that leads Muslims to hate all non-Muslims. Through the geopolitical postcolonial
lens we expose the circumstantial implications of these representations and relate them to
their due context. |
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