ABSTRACT
This chapter explores how a trio of 9/11 novels—John Updike, Terrorist; Mohsin Hamid, The Reluctant Fundamentalist; and Don DeLillo, Falling Man, break with convention and invite a broader, more informed, and more troubling understanding of Islamic terrorism and our responses to 9/11. Updike has his Muslim characters describe what the world looks like from their perspective, and their views partly overlap with Updike’s longstanding criticisms of American culture as materialistic and self-destructive. If Updike uses Ahmad, Rashid, and Charlie as conduits for Islamic radicalism, other characters reflect how many Americans remain stubbornly deaf to these voices. Updike uses Charlie; however, to make an extraordinary argument that directly contradicts the vast majority of post-9/11 discourse on the relationship between America and Al Qaeda. Like Updike, Mohsin Hamid sensed that after 9/11, few people were trying to understand Islamic terrorism, as opposed to mindlessly condemning it.
