In the aftermath of the September 11 terror attacks, the political situation in both the United States and abroad has often been described as a "state of exception": an emergency situation in which the normal rule of law is suspended. In such a situation, the need for good decisions is felt ever more strongly. This book investigates the aesthetics, ethics, and politics of various decisions represented in novels published around 9/11: Martel's Life of Pi, Eugenides' Middlesex, Coetzee's Disgrace, and Sebald's Austerlitz.

DedicationAcknowledgementsList of IllustrationsIntroduction: Decision TimeA. September 11 and the Aesthetic DecisionB. The ChaptersC. Schmitt, Hobbes, Benjamin, Burnham Chapter One: States of Exception in Yann Martel's Life of PiA. IntroductionB. Political State of ExceptionC. Psychic State of ExceptionD. Theological State of ExceptionE. The Politics of AllegoryChapter Two: Autobiography and Human Rights in Jeffrey Eugenides' MiddlesexA. A Failure of ReadingB. Reading Human RightsC. The Political Life of SexD. Sex in TheoryE/ Autobiography and MessianismChapter Three: Literary Economies in J.M. Coetzee's DisgraceA. Disgrace, Once MoreB. The Circular Economy of ViolenceC. Reading IncestD. Lucy's CountE. Lucy as "the part of those who have no part"F. From Animals to Aesthetic EconomyChapter Four: Architectures of Exception in W.G. Sebald's AusterlitzA. Architecture, Trauma, and the CampsB. Reading FortificationsC. The Cabinet of WonderD. Architectures of the UncannyE. Moving TestimonyF. The Novel in Motion; or: The Politics of Austerlitz's AestheticConclusion: From Exception to Care A. Crisis and PlayB. Biopolitics, the Novel, and CareBibliographic ReferencesIndex