Iraqi academic presents writing based on his own life-experiences as part of a unique insight into the emerging field of literary responses to terrorism and 9/11.
Former Iraqi academic Waleed Al-Bazoon will be reading fiction based on his own real-life experiences of living under the threat of terrorism as part of a unique literary forum being hosted at the University of Chichester.
The ‘Forum on Literature, Terrorism and 9/11’ on Saturday 29th May 2010 will bring together academics and acclaimed authors to provide an exchange of ideas on this crucial area of contemporary life and to generate a mixture of critical, theoretical and artistic approaches to questions around terrorism in the post-9/11 world.Waleed, a-father-of-four who is currently living in Bognor Regis, was an interpreter with the British Forces before becoming a lecturer in modern fiction at the University of Basra, Southern Iraq where he taught for over 10-years.He joined the University of Chichester in July 2009 as part of the Council for Assisting Refugee Academics (CARA) scholarship scheme and is currently studying for a PhD in English Literature specialising in literary responses to 9/11.Waleed said: “I am currently researching different historical accounts of terrorism and comparing British and American fiction post-9/11 to see how different writers treat terrorism and their presentation of the terrorist as the ‘other’. I am also looking at literature portrays political, social and cultural changes between the West and the East since the attacks.”“Having lived in Iraq all my life I experienced relative peace and economic stability in the 1980s followed by very turbulent times in the 1990s after the first Gulf War through to the recent fall of Saddam. Now there is economic growth in Iraq again but sectarian conflict means living under the constant threat of terrorism every day. Many of my academic peers have been kidnapped and killed because of their religious backgrounds and political views. This has had a huge impact on my writing. When I became an interpreter I was seen as the ‘other’ in my own country by the British forces and now that I am living in the UK with my family I am also seen as the ‘other’, so I have personal experience of the consequences of war and terrorism.”The Forum will also hear from Dr Stephen Morton of the University of Southampton University and Dr Robert Spencer from University of Manchester both leading academics in the growing field of the study of terrorism and literature. They will be giving keynote speeches on competing theoretical accounts of terrorism and fundamentalism and their impact on world culture.
There will be discussions on current modern fiction which has terrorism at its heart such as Ian McEwan’s Saturday; Clive Cleave’s Incendiary and Don DeLillo’s Falling Man. Writers Professor Alison MacLeod, author of The Wave Theory of Angels and Fifteen Modern Tales of Attraction and James Miller author of Lost Boys and Sunshine State will be reading extracts from their own work and discussing their books’ relationship to war and terrorism including 9/11 and 7/7.Organiser Dr Robert Duggan, from the University of Chichester’s Department of English, said: “Literature has played a significant role in responses to terrorism and the attacks of 9/11, with British fiction in particular offering different perspectives on trans-cultural relations, contemporary terrorism, the ‘War on Terror’ and globalisation. Authors have engaged very directly in their fiction and non-fiction with the political and social fallout of the September 11 attacks and the invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq and this already substantial body of writing is rapidly growing in size and importance."
There will be discussions on current modern fiction which has terrorism at its heart such as Ian McEwan’s Saturday; Clive Cleave’s Incendiary and Don DeLillo’s Falling Man. Writers Professor Alison MacLeod, author of The Wave Theory of Angels and Fifteen Modern Tales of Attraction and James Miller author of Lost Boys and Sunshine State will be reading extracts from their own work and discussing their books’ relationship to war and terrorism including 9/11 and 7/7.Organiser Dr Robert Duggan, from the University of Chichester’s Department of English, said: “Literature has played a significant role in responses to terrorism and the attacks of 9/11, with British fiction in particular offering different perspectives on trans-cultural relations, contemporary terrorism, the ‘War on Terror’ and globalisation. Authors have engaged very directly in their fiction and non-fiction with the political and social fallout of the September 11 attacks and the invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq and this already substantial body of writing is rapidly growing in size and importance."
The Forum will take place bewteen 12.45pm and 6.15pm on Saturday, 29th May at Cloisters, University of Chichester, Bishop Otter Campus, College Lane, Chichester. Car parking is free and members of the public can register on the day. Tickets range from £5 to £10. If you are interested in attending then please contact Robert Duggan on r.duggan@chi.ac.uk View: Forum on Literature, Terrorism and 9/11 Poster
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