· · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · DISAPPEAR HERE Violence after Generation X Naomi Mandel THE OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY PRESS / COLUMBUS All Rights Reserved. Copyright © The Ohio State University Press, 2015. Batch 1. Copyright © 2015 by The Ohio State University. All rights reserved. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Mandel, Naomi, 1969– author. Disappear here : violence after Generation X / Naomi Mandel. pages cm Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-0-8142-1286-8 (cloth : alk. paper) 1. Violence in literature. 2. Violence—United States—20th century. 3. Generation X— United States—20th century. I. Title. PN56.V53M36 2015 809'.933552—dc23 2015010172 Cover design by Janna Thompson-Chordas Text design by Juliet Williams Type set in Adobe Sabon Printed by Thomson-Shore, Inc. Cover image: Young woman with knife behind foil. © Bernd Friedel/Westend61/Corbis. The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of the American National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials. ANSI Z39.48-1992. 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 All Rights Reserved. Copyright © The Ohio State University Press, 2015. Batch 1. To Erik with love and x x x All Rights Reserved. Copyright © The Ohio State University Press, 2015. Batch 1. All Rights Reserved. Copyright © The Ohio State University Press, 2015. Batch 1. contents · · · · · · · · · List of Illustrations vi Acknowledgments vii introduction The Middle Children of History 1 one Why X Now? Crossing Out and Marking the Spot 9 two Nevermind: An X Critique of Violence 41 three The Game That Moves: Bret Easton Ellis, 1985–2010 79 four Something Empty in the Sky: 9/11 after X 111 five Not Yes or No: Fact, Fiction, Fidelity in Jonathan Safran Foer 150 six I Am Jack’s Revolution: Fight Club, Hacking, Violence after X 178 conclusion X Out 210 Works Cited 227 Index 243 All Rights Reserved. Copyright © The Ohio State University Press, 2015. Batch 1. illustrations · · · · · · · · · · · figure 1 Fight Club (1999). Screen grab. 3 figure 2 Vulture Watching Starving Child. Sudan, March 1993. 17 figure 3 Slacker (1991). Screen grab. 53 figure 4 Less Than Zero (1987). Screen grab. 83 figure 5 City Workers in London Watch News of Terrorist Attacks in America 117 figure 6 Fight Club (1999). Screen grab. 184 figure 7 V For Vendetta. © DC Comics. 206 figure 8 Expect Anonymous Fight Club Soap. 210 vi All Rights Reserved. Copyright © The Ohio State University Press, 2015. Batch 1. acknowledgments · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · I am deeply grateful to Malcolm Litchfield and Lindsay Martin for wel- coming my manuscript to The Ohio State University Press, to Sandy Crooms for inviting me to submit this book to the Press, and to the man- uscript’s outside readers for their suggestions and support. Tara Cyphers was a patient and kind editor. I thank Martin Boyne for his quick and careful indexing and Kristin Ebert-Wagner for her magnificently per- snickety copyediting. This book has great and generous allies. Marco Abel’s timely and thoughtful comments pushed me to make my argument stronger, and I am grateful to him for being the kind of scholar who likes to disagree. Alain-Philippe Durand created opportunities for me to share and shape this work. He encouraged its evolution at every stage, and I am grateful for his friendship. Ryan Trimm read drafts of these chapters and asked challenging questions and gave me his unflinching support in the face of myriad institutional hurdles. Carolyn Betensky and Travis D. Williams directed me to useful resources, gave me detailed and thoughtful feed- back, and talked me down when necessary. John Hodgkins and John Schwetman assured me I was making sense. Though I have yet to meet them in person, E. Gabriella Coleman and Christine Henseler have been very generous with their time and encouragement. For their continued vii All Rights Reserved. Copyright © The Ohio State University Press, 2015. Batch 1. viii / ACKNOWLEDGMENTS advocacy of this project and its author, I can never hope to repay my teachers Gabriele Schwab, Rey Chow, and Michael P. Clark (who, after looking at an early draft, said, “I’d read that book”). A Project Completion Grant from the University of Rhode Island’s Council for Research funded my work with Matthew J. Balliro, a care- ful, thorough, and resourceful researcher, in the summer of 2014. Grants from the University of Rhode Island’s Provost Faculty Development Fund and Beaupré Hope and Heritage fund enabled me to share early versions of this work with students, scholars, and colleagues at other institutions. I am grateful to Art Redding at York University in Toronto, Shuli Barzilai at The Hebrew University, Efraim Sicher at Bar Ilan Uni- versity, Milette Shamir at Tel Aviv University, and Vered Lev Kennan and Shahar Bram at the University of Haifa for inviting me to speak. Grants from the University of Rhode Island’s Center for Humanities defrayed some of my research expenses and costs of permissions. Melissa Ramhold at Corbis Images provided prompt, cheery, and invaluable assistance in acquiring permission to include “Vulture Watching Starving Child” (© Kevin Carter / Sygma / Corbis), “City Workers in London Watch News of Terrorist Attacks in America” (© Reuters/Corbis), and “Young woman with knife behind foil” (© Bernd Friedel/Westend61/Corbis). Mar Williams graciously allowed me to reproduce his art. Andrée Rathemacher and Angel Ferria of the Uni- versity of Rhode Island Library offered helpful guidance on fair use for the screen grabs included in this book. Sections of V for Vendetta are reprinted with permission of DC Comics. The following is reprinted with permission: “Free of Hope” Words and Music by Vic Chesnutt Copyright © 1995 Ghetto Bells Music All Rights Administered by BMG Rights Management (US) LLC All Rights Reserved. Used by Permission. Reprinted by Permission of Hal Leonard Corporation “Down for the Real” Words and Music by Derek Murphy, Lorenzo DeChalus, James Preston, Jay E. Nichols Sr., Jerome Dickens, and Ralph Rolle Copyright © 1994 UNIVERSAL MUSIC CORP All Rights Reserved. Used by Permission. Reprinted by Permission of Hal Leonard Corporation All Rights Reserved. Copyright © The Ohio State University Press, 2015. Batch 1. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS / ix A version of chapter 5 was published in Novel: A Forum on Fiction in Summer 2012. I am grateful to the editors of that journal for kind per- mission to include it here. At the University of Rhode Island, I have been fortunate in the sup- port of Galen Johnson and Richard McIntyre, Directors of the Honors Program; Winifred Brownell, Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences; and Donald H. DeHayes, Provost and Vice President of Academic Affairs. Stephen Barber, Mary Cappello, Kathleen Davis, David Faflik, and Jean Walton are bracing and inspiring colleagues; Michelle Carac- cia, Kara Lewis, and Dawn Cute (we miss you, Dawn!) are the kind and capable staff who sustain us. Most of Disappear Here was written while I was serving as Director of Graduate Studies for English, and I am deeply grateful to the students in the program whose enthusiasm for this difficult profession inspired me to work early in the morning and late at night. Jason Shrontz developed memorable tutorials in the music of the era; the students of ENG 379 and HPR 412 were patient as I wrestled with early versions of these ideas, and Andrew J. Ploeg and Mihaela P. Harper (look out for her work on anomie!) taught me more than I taught them. I have the great good fortune to be cared for by Dr. Asaf Bitton, Dr. Lynae Brayboy, Dr. Karmela Chan, Dr. Jean Smith, Dr. Valerie Thomas, and Robin Whewell (RN, CDE) and I am grateful for the countless hours they give me. I am especially grateful to Dr. Barry Wall, without whose counsel and compassion I would surely disappear. My sister, Jessica Mandel, sustained me with Slayer-strength hugs and directed me to The Hunger Games. John Dyer, Ohad Flinker, Aaron Stern, and Seth Yurdin were the litmus test for this topic: when their polite interest transformed to manic gleam, I knew I was on to some- thing. Carole Sklar, Jacqueline Rokotnitz, and Diane Strommer opened their homes and allowed me to write, rest, and play surrounded by beauty. I am grateful to Joni and Nunu Rokotnitz for hours of good talk and good fun, and to Pablo Adi for all the fine meals and elegant conversation. Miriam B. Mandel is my mother and my mentor. Her copyediting genius, editorial savvy, and professional wisdom helped this book into the world. I can only hope to emulate the clarity and rigor of her writing, and the alchemy of conviction and care with which she navigates life’s challenges. Jerome Mandel is my father and my muse. His own prose sings. He was the first reader for many of this book’s chapters: seeing them through All Rights Reserved. Copyright © The Ohio State University Press, 2015. Batch 1. x / ACKNOWLEDGMENTS his eyes spurred me to make them better. If his quick humor and anarchic kindness glimmer in these pages, I will be proud. Erik Sklar is my partner and my hero. He gives me tech support and life support. He always comes up with the name for the thing when I’m in the throes of aphasia. He never complains when I send him for fast food at dinnertime or drag him to conferences on his vacation. His love and courage sustained me every step of this journey. My fellow Xer, I dedicate this book to you. All Rights Reserved. Copyright © The Ohio State University Press, 2015. Batch 1. introduction · · · · · · · · · · · The Middle Children of History GENERATION X refers to people who were born in the 1960s and 1970s and came of age in the final decades of the twentieth century.1 Uneasily placed after the postwar Baby Boomers and before contempo- rary Millennials, X is a cohort that eludes definition.