THURSDAY,AUGUST22,2002
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN = 7
110 Stories begins to fill creative void near anniversary of terrorist attacks
A new collection offers diverse perspectives, literary forms on the aftershocks of Sept 11.
By C.J. Jackson Jayplay writer
The extensive media attention given to the World Trade Center attacks have been one of the most telling signs of Sept. 11's impact. But despite wide-ranging news coverage and nonfiction literature about the attacks, a direct, creative response from the literary community has been noticeably absent, until now.
The recent publication of 110 Stories: New York Writes After September 11 (New York University Press) begins to fill this void.
The number bears the significance of the number of floors in tower two of the World Trade Center as well as the number of literary pieces featured in the compilation. Edited and compiled by Ulrich Baer, a professor at New York University, 110 Stories features poetry, shorts stories, essays and all things between, by a group
of writers as diverse as the New York City they write about. From novelist Paul Auster, a native New Yorker, to Masood Farivar, an Afghanborn journalist who fought against the Soviet invasion in the '70s, many perspectives are lent to post-9/11 issues.
In the opening piece, the thoughtful short story "Circumference," Humera Afridi delves into the guilt of a sinful Muslim woman in the days after the attacks. But not every piece is so heavy-handed.
A short-story by Joshua Henkin, "Dog Walking," finds a boy starting a dog-walking business in New York. Though the story never references 9/11, "Dog Walking" has tender reverence for the city that never sleeps ("New York, New York, it's a hell of a town," the boy sings at one point), creating a wistful feeling fully at home in a collection inspired by Sept. 11.
Melvin Jules Bukiet breaks from traditional storytelling with a first-person narrative, "Manhattan Rhapsody," as if New York itself were a person both touching and amusing.
Charles McNulty speculates on how the attacks affected the rat population of New York with "A Rat's Life," creating a charming, if tongue-in-cheek homage to some of New York's oldest residents.
Naturally, 110 Stories is soaked in emotion. While some authors find ways to sneak humor in
(McNulty's and Bukiet's pieces are particularly humorous), sadness and fear pervade most of the writing in 110 Stories.
Roberta Allen addresses her remorse in direct and understated terms with her short story "The Sky Was So Blue." "I had not yet heard from the friend who had seen blood and body parts strewn all over the roof of his high rise," Allen writes.
And Paul Auster reveals a sense of terror in his personal essay "Random Notes: September 11, 2001, 4:00 p.m." "It frightens me to contemplate how many people have been killed. We all knew this could happen," Auster writes.
110 Stories is not perfect — with such a number, some pieces are inevitably better than others but it is a solid collection that may help to ease the pains of Sept. 11. 110 Stories is a valuable resource to a bruised America.
Contact Jackson at jayplay@kansan.com. This story was edited by Amanda Sears.
Course readings affected by world events
By ARLENE LEVINSON
AP National Writer
Last January, Kelly O'Ryan talked her way into one of the few slots open for a new course called "Why Do They' Hate Us'?" at St. Lawrence University in Canton, N.Y.
This summer, she landed a job researching articles to update the reading list for the course exploring historic and political perspectives on the Sept. 11 attacks.
"It just seemed like one of the first classes that actually pertained to the real world," said O'Ryan, who will be a junior at the school near
the Canadian border.
That's the sentiment on many campuses, where demand has continued and even grown for classes in the fall semester on subjects such as Islam, political history and terrorism that were suddenly hot topics after Sept. 11.
Ohio State University, for instance, is introducing "Politics and Culture in Central Asia."
Bioterrorism — its history and science, how to mine public records to learn about it, and how public policy figures in the mix — is a new science offering at the University of the South in Sewance, Tenn.
Georgia State University, responding to
demand, just hired a professor to teach Arabic as well as an introductory course on Islam and another on Arabic literature and film. In addition, the school is adding courses on the life of Islam's founder, Muhammad, another on Islamic fundamentalism and one called "War, Peace, and Religion."
Sept. 11 also has brought new relevance to less popular courses.
Last fall, George Mason University in Fairfax, Va., canceled a course on computers and encryption, "Introduction to Information Security Technologies," for lack of interest. Now there's not just one section—already full with 40
students — but a second has been added. And the graduate school of public policy added a course on "Islam and the Internet."
The J. Mack Robinson College of Business at Georgia State has seen enrollment triple for a couple of courses on risk management, to around 40 each.
Jeff Hyson, an assistant professor at Saint Joseph's University in Philadelphia, dreamed for years of teaching how historic events get reshaped in the collective memory.
This fall, in a new course called "History and Memory," he'll use Sept. 11 — including this year's televised memorials — as a major thread