Multiple Brain Texts and Trauma Writing: In Don Delillo's Falling Man

• Main Author: He, Qingji
• Format: text
• Published: Archīum Ateneo 2024
• Subjects: brain text; Don DeLillo; ethics of “standing apart; ” Falling Man; trauma writing
• Online Access: https://archium.ateneo.edu/kk/vol1/iss39/9; https://archium.ateneo.edu/context/kk/article/1988/viewcontent/KK_2039_2C_202022_209_20Forum_20Kritika_20on_20Ethical_20Literary_20Criticism_2C_20Brain_20Text_2C_20and_20New_20Readings_20of_20World_20Literature_20_28Part_20II_29_20__20Su.pdf
• Institution: Ateneo De Manila University

By taking the concept of brain text, this paper1 attempts to illustrate that Falling Man by Don DeLillo is an exemplar of how brain text(s) can be processed into literary text(s). Firstly, this paper extends Nie’s concept to include four types of brain texts, namely, those pertaining to characters, readers, society, and writers, then probes into DeLillo’s trauma writing by showing how DeLillo (re)represents different characters’ brain texts in the novel. The silence and loud voice of Drew’s photo “The Falling Man” function to simulate and build up readers’ brain text, and DeLillo’s criticism of “us-them” ideology as society’s brain text becomes apparent through the novel’s narrative structure. What underlies DeLillo’s brain text is his ethics of “standing apart,” DeLillo’s version of negativity, which runs throughout the novel.