carwin the terrorist: what makes a novel a terrorist novel, and why it makes wieland one, too

Why Study Fiction about Terrorism?How Does One Study It?

Carwin the Terrorist

What Makes a Novel a Terrorist Novel, and Why It Makes Wieland One, Too.

Why Study Fiction about Terrorism?How Does One Study It?

What is a Terrorist Novel?


Francis Blessington


Francis Blessington“What we want most from the terrorist novel is to know and experience why someone chooses terror.” (“Politics and the Terrorist Novel,” 117)


Francis Blessington


Francis BlessingtonThe narrative is distinctively structured by choices made by: 1. the author;2. a major character;3. the reader.(“Politics and the Terrorist Novel,” 118.)


Francis BlessingtonThe narrative is distinctively structured by choices made by: 1. the author;2. a major character;3. the reader.

(118.)


Francis BlessingtonEach chooses between:i. siding with the

establishment;ii.siding with the cause; andiii.escaping from siding

either with the establishment or with the cause.

(“Politics and Terrorist Novel,” 116-17.)


Francis BlessingtonThe author, character, reader each chooses between:i. siding with the



(“Politics and Terrorist Novel,” 116-17.)


Francis BlessingtonThe author, character, reader each chooses between:i. siding with the



(116-17.)

The Terrorist-King

The Terrorist-KingA comparatively minor character who at least appears to be a true believer, and who poses the choice to the major character by crystallizing two things in the putative terrorist’s mind:

1.The existence of a crisis facing some favored community

2.the need to dispense with moral constraints on action, in order to resolve that crisis

The Terrorist-KingA comparatively minor character who at least appears to be a true believer and who poses the choice to the major character by crystallizing two things in the putative terrorist’s mind:

1.The existence of a crisis facing some favored community

2.the need to dispense with moral constraints on action, in order to resolve that crisis


1.The existence of a crisis facing some favored community (“the people”);

2.The need to dispense with moral constraints on action, in order to resolve that crisis


1.The existence of a crisis facing some favored community (“the people”);

2.The need to dispense with moral scruples concerning violence, in order to resolve that crisis.

The Terrorist-King

The Terrorist-KingThe crisis can be either:1.The need for a social

revolution that will make the people the establishment;

2.An existential threat to the people.

The Terrorist-KingThe crisis can be either:1.The need for a revolution to

make the people, all of whom are of undifferentiated virtue, into the establishment;

2.An existential threat to the people.

The Terrorist-KingThe crisis can be either:1.The need for a revolution to

make the people, all of whom are of undifferentiated virtue, into the establishment;

2.An existential threat to the people, posed by the people’s enemies, all of whom are of undifferentiated viciousness;

The Terrorist-KingThe crisis can be either:1.The need for a revolution to make

the people, all of whom are of undifferentiated virtue, into the establishment;

2.An existential threat to the people, posed by the people’s enemies, all of whom are of undifferentiated viciousness; or

3.Both of the above.

The Terrorist-KingThe character of the crisis will require different kinds of violence:1.Bringing about social revolution

will require elimination of the enemies of the people;

2.Ending the existential threat to the people will require sacrifice of some of the people;

3.Or both.

The Terrorist-KingResolving the crisis requires different kinds of violence, according to the nature of the crisis:1.Bringing about social revolution

will require elimination of the enemies of the people;


3.Or both.

The Terrorist-KingResolving the crisis requires different kinds of violence, according to the nature of the crisis:1.Bringing about revolution

necessitates the sacrifice of some of the people;


3.Or both.



2.Ending the threat to the people requires the elimination of enemies of the people;

3.Or both.



2.Ending the threat to the people requires the elimination of enemies of the people; or

3.Both of the above.

Henry James: The Princess Casamassima (1886)


Major Character:


Major Character: Hyacinth Robinson.


. . . he should hold himself ready, for the next five years, to do, at a given moment, an act which would in all probability cost him his life. The act was as yet indefinite, but one might get an idea of it from the penalty involved, which would certainly be capital. The only thing settled was that it was to be done instantly and absolutely, without a question, a hesitation or a scruple, in the manner that should be prescribed, at the moment, from headquarters. Very likely it would be to kill some one—some humbug in a high place; but whether the individual should deserve it or not was not Hyacinth's affair. (Casamassima, II 143)



Choice:



Choice: Escape by suicide.


Terrorist-King:


Terrorist-King: Diedrich Hoffendahl.

Henry James: The Princess Casamassima (1886)‘Then it is real, it is solid?’ she

pursued. ‘That’s exactly what I have been trying to make up my mind about, for so long.’

‘It is more strange than I can say. Nothing of it appears above the surface; but there is an immense underworld, peopled with a thousand forms of revolutionary passion and devotion. . . . . And on top of it all, society lives! People go and come, and buy and sell, and drink and dance, and make money and make love, and seem to know nothing and suspect nothing and think of nothing; and iniquities flourish, and the misery of half the world is prated about as a ‘necessary evil,’ and generations rot away and starve, in the midst of it, and day follows day, and everything is for the best in the best of possible worlds. . . . . .


. . . All that is one-half of it; the other half is that everything is doomed! In silence, in darkness, but under the feet of each one of us, the revolution lives and works. It is a wonderful, immeasurable trap, on the lid of which society performs its antics. When once the machinery is complete, there will be a great rehearsal. That rehearsal is what they want me for. . . . .’

‘You make me believe it,’ said the Princess, thoughtfully.

‘It matters little whether one believes it or not!’

‘You have had a vision,’ the Princess continued.

‘Parbleu, I have had a vision! So would you, if you had been there.’ (II, 139.)

Frank NorrisThe Octopus (1901)


Major Character:


Major Character: Presley.


I can see the outcome. The Railroad will prevail. The Trust will overpower us. Here in this corner of a great nation, here, on the edge of the continent, here, in this valley of the West, far from the great centres, isolated, remote, lost, the great iron hand crushes life from us, crushes liberty and the pursuit of happiness from us, and our little struggles, our moment's convulsion of death agony causes not one jar in the vast, clashing machinery of the nation's life; a fleck of grit in the wheels, perhaps, a grain of sand in the cogs—the momentary creak of the axle is the mother's wail of bereavement, the wife's cry of anguish—and the great wheel turns, spinning smooth again, even again, and the tiny impediment of a second, scarce noticed, is forgotten. Make the people believe that the faint tremor in their great engine is a menace to its function? What a folly to think of it. Tell them of the danger and they will laugh at you. Tell them, five years from now, the story of the fight between the League of the San Joaquin and the Railroad and it will not be believed. What! a pitched battle between Farmer and Railroad, a battle that cost the lives of seven men? Impossible, it could not have happened. Your story is fiction, is exaggerated.


Yet it is Lexington—God help us, God enlighten us. God rouse us from our lethargy—it is Lexington; farmers with guns in their hands fighting for Liberty. Is our State of California the only one that has its ancient and hereditary foe? Are there no other Trusts between the oceans than this of the Pacific and Southwestern Railroad? Ask yourselves, you of the Middle West, ask yourselves, you of the North, ask yourselves, you of the East, ask yourselves, you of the South ask yourselves, every citizen of every State from Maine to Mexico, from the Dakotas to the Carolinas, have you not the monster in your boundaries? If it is not a Trust of transportation, it is only another head of the same Hydra. Is not our death struggle typical? Is it not one of many, is it not symbolical of the great and terrible conflict that is going on everywhere in these United States? Ah, you people, blind, bound, tricked, betrayed, can you not see it? Can you not see how the monsters have plundered your treasures and holding them in the grip of their iron claws, dole them out to you only at the price of your blood, at the price of the lives of your wives and your little children? You give your babies to Moloch for the loaf of bread you have kneaded yourselves. You offer your starved wives to Juggernaut for the iron nail you have yourselves compounded. (II, 250)



Choice: the cause (attempted elimination), then escape (travelling).


Terrorist-King: Caraher.


“Do you blame us now,” he cried, “us others, the Reds? Ah, yes, it’s all very well for your middle class to preach moderation. I could do it, too. You could do it, too, if your belly was fed, if your property was safe, if your wife had not been murdered, if your children were not starving. Easy enough then to preach law-abiding methods, legal redress, and all such rot. But how about us?” he vociferated. “Ah, yes, I’m a loud-mouthed rum-seller, ain’t I? I’m a wild-eyed striker, ain’t I? I’m a bloodthirsty anarchist, ain’t I? Wait till you’ve seen your wife brought home to you with the face you used to kiss smashed in by a horse’s hoof—killed by the Trust, as it happened to me. Then talk about moderation! . . . . That talk is just what the Trust wants to hear. It ain’t frightened of that. There’s one thing only it does listen to, one thing it is frightened of—the people with dynamite in their hands—six inches of plugged gaspipe. That talks.” (II, 71.)


Presley rushed from the house, beside himself with grief, with horror, with pity, and with mad, insensate rage. On the porch outside Caraher met him.

“Is he—is he—” began the saloon-keeper.

“Yes, he’s dead,” cried Presley. “They’re all dead, murdered, shot down, dead, dead, all of them. Whose turn is next?”

“That’s the way they killed my wife, Presley.”

“Caraher,” cried Presley, “give me your hand. I’ve been wrong all the time. The League is wrong. All the world is wrong. You are the only one of us all who is right. I’m with you from now on. By God, I, too, I’m a Red!” (II, 246)

Charles Brockden BrownWieland; or The Transformation.

An American Story

Charles Brockden BrownWieland, or The Transformation.

An American Story Major character: Theodore Wieland.


An American Story “For a time my contemplations soared above earth and its inhabitants. I stretched forth my hands ; I lifted my eyes, and exclaimed, ‘Oh that I might be admitted to thy presence ! that mine were the supreme delight of knowing thy will, and of performing it! the blissful privilege of direct communication with thee, and of listening to the audible enunciation of thy pleasure!” (Ch 19)


An American Story “. . . It is forbidden to describe what I saw: words, indeed, would be wanting to the task. The lineaments of that being whose veil was now lifted and whose visage beamed upon my sight, no hues of pencil or of language can portray. “As it spoke, the accents thrilled to my

heart: Thy prayers are heard. In proof of thy faith, render me thy wife. This is the victim I choose. Call her hither, and here let her fall.’” (Ch 19)


An American Story “While I revolved these ideas, new warmth

flowed in upon my heart. I was wrong. These feelings were the growth of selfishness. Of this I was not aware, and, to dispel the mist that obscured my perceptions, a new effulgence and a new mandate were necessary.“From these thoughts I was recalled by a ray

that was shot into the room. A voice spake like that which I had before heard: Thou hast done well. But all is not done—the sacrifice is incomplete—thy children must be offered—they must perish with their mother!—’” (Ch 19)



Choice: the cause (social revolution)


An American Story “Wretch! I cried, when my suffocating emotions would permit me to speak, “the ghosts of my sister and her children, do they not rise to accuse thee ? Who was it that blasted the intellect of Wieland? Who was it that urged him to fury and guided him to murder? Who, but thou and the devil, with whom thou art confederated? (Ch 22)


An American Story “What art thou?” he [Theodore] resumed,

addressing himself to Carwin. “Answer me : whose form—whose voice,—was it thy contrivance? Answer me.” The answer was now given, but confusedly

and scarcely articulated. “I meant nothing—I intended no ill—if I understand—if I do not mistake you—it is too true—I did appear in the entry—did speak. The contrivance was mine, but—” (Ch 24)


An American Story

“Clara, I must not leave thee in doubt. I know not what brought about thy interview with the being whom thou callest Carwin. For a time I was guilty of thy error, and deduced from his incoherent confessions that I had been made the victim of human malice. He left us at my bidding, and I put up a prayer that my doubts should be removed. Thy eyes were shut and thy ears sealed to the vision that answered my prayer.“I was indeed deceived. The form thou hast seen was the incarnation of a demon. The visage and voice which urged me to the sacrifice of my family were his. Now he personates a human form; then he was environed with the lustre of heaven.“Clara,” he continued, advancing closer to me, “thy death must come. This minister is evil, but he from whom his commission was received is God. . . . . ” (Ch 25)

Concluding ThoughtsIf Wieland really falls under this generic analysis of the terrorist novel then either:1.The generic analysis is faulty;

2.The terrorist novel is an accidental invention of the American gothic.

carwin the terrorist: what makes a novel a terrorist novel, and why it makes wieland one, too

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