American Undercurrents in the 21st Century: Trauma, Transformation, and the Reader as Witness in Nicole Krauss’s Man Walks into a Room

Year 2015, Issue: 41, 45 - 68, 01.04.2015

Laura Virginia Castor

Abstract

In Man Walks into a Room, Nicole Krauss offers valuable ways of thinking about 11 September’s prehistory, and to some extent, its aftermath. She does so through her exploration of the consciousness of the main character, Samson Greene’s consciousness. This development includes careful attention to a sense of place in historical context that allows a space for the reader’s role to emerge as witness. As such, Krauss’s narration urges readers to consider tensions between individual freedom and loneliness, and between American progressive ideals and more fragile, post 11 September global identities

Keywords

Post 9/11 literature, trauma theory, literature of the American West, witness literature.

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