After the event: Don DeLillo’s White Noise and September 11 narratives

In this article I enquire into the conceptualisation and construction of the event,a topic much neglected in International Relations, but one which has become increasinglycentral to recent debates in continental philosophy. I juxtapose the fictional event depictedin Don DeLillo’s brilliant novel, White Noise, with the non-fictional event of September 11.I suggest that apprehending any kind of socially or politically significant event, depends onnarrative. To take the argument further, I argue that narrative is a crucial device by whichwe moderns (and postmoderns) actually experience such events and social reality