9/11 Gothic: Decrypting Ghosts and Trauma in New York City’s Terrorism Novels by Danel Olson (review)

Abstract

Derry’s history beyond IT’s long life. Compora also has a more significant error in which he represents a scene between adult Beverly and her husband as having taken place after the character Mike calls her from Derry instead of before, which contradicts the claim he is using the scene to support (159). Ambrose makes a similar but less substantial error, representing something Beverly thinks about her father as a child as being something she thinks about her husband as an adult (142). It is also odd that Schneeberger and Wiegel repeatedly refer to Derry as “suburban” instead of as a small town (170), especially given the importance of small towns to King’s work overall. While none of these misrepresentations are sufficient to invalidate the arguments in which they appear, such errors should have been caught in the revision process instead of being left to undermine the authors’ claims. Ultimately, though some of the essays possess weaknesses that keep them from standing alone, the collection nevertheless offers a valuable approach to understanding King’s novel and is a worthwhile contribution to King scholarship.