“HOW DO YOU GRIEVE A NUMBER?” – UNSUCCESSFUL GRIEVING IN JESS WALTER’S THE ZERO
“HOW DO YOU GRIEVE A NUMBER?” – UNSUCCESSFUL GRIEVING IN JESS WALTER’S THE ZERO

Summary/Abstract: “How do you grieve a number?” – Unsuccessful Grieving in Jess Walter’s The Zero. Accountability and grief, assuming different forms and accommodating a variety of (sometimes antithetical) approaches, seem to be the dominants shaping 9/11 fiction and, consequently, the attendant criticism. Grief is a central theme to Jess Walter’s The Zero, examined in various manifestations, ranging from public to private, from counterfeit to genuine. The claim of this paper is that The Zero explores alternatives of grief only to invite the thought that the work of mourning, in a traditionally ‘successful’ sense, is no longer possible post-9/11.

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