Deconstructing “The Abyss of the Future:” Theatre
DECONSTRUCTING “THE ABYSS OF THE FUTURE:” THEATRE, PERFORMANCE, AND HOLES IN THE DISCOURSE OF 9/11 by Inga Meier BA in English and Theatre Arts, Rutgers University, 2003 MFA in Dramaturgy, Stony Brook University, 2007 Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of The Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Theatre History and Performance Studies University of Pittsburgh 2014 UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH DIETRICH SCHOOL OF ARTS AND SCIENCES This dissertation was presented by Inga Meier It was defended on November 4, 2014 and approved by Attilio Favorini, PhD, Emeritus Professor Lucy Fischer, PhD, Distinguished Professor Kathleen George, PhD, Professor Dissertation Advisor: Lisa Jackson-Schebetta, PhD, Assistant Professor ii Copyright © by Inga Meier 2014 iii DECONSTRUCTING “THE ABYSS OF THE FUTURE:” THEATRE, PERFORMANCE, AND HOLES IN THE DISCOURSE OF 9/11 Inga Meier, M.F.A., PhD University of Pittsburgh, 2014 My dissertation examines the manner in which 9/11 has been formulated as a historical sequence of events in the United States through performance, theatre, architecture, film and photography. It has been repeatedly stated that the events of 9/11 have so completely permeated our collective consciousness as to render their narrative re-presentation, at best, ineffective, and, at worst, superfluous. Not only were the attacks pre-imagined in countless disaster films, but they were also deliberately orchestrated to maximize not so much the loss of human life, but, as Jean Baudrillard has argued, their symbolic effect. My dissertation argues the opposite, namely that the events themselves have been, from the beginning, relegated to the realm of the symbolic and that what we refer to as “9/11” is itself a narrative construction.
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