Going Scapegoat

Since 9/11, war literature has become a key element in American popular culture, spurring critical debate about depictions of combat--Who can write war literature? When can they do it? This book presents a new way to closely read war narratives, questioning the idea of "combat gnosticism"--the belief that the experience of war is impossible to communicate to those who have not seen it--that has dominated the discussion.

Adapting Kenneth Burke''s scapegoat mechanism to the criticism of literature and film, the author examines three novels from 2012--Ben Fountain''s Billy Lynn''s Long Halftime Walk, David Abrams''s FOBBIT and Kevin Powers'' The Yellow Birds--that represent the U.S. military responses to 9/11.