Omar El Akkad's "American War". A Child's Perspective on War

Scientific Essay from the year 2018 in the subject Didactics - English - Literature, Works, Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, language: English, abstract: The incorporation of war into English speaking literature has a long tradition since wars as such form ideal literacy backgrounds for plot, character development or political criticism. In times of civil uproar, political insecurity, outer enemies or ongoing wars this use of war as a literary means has always increased. This is recently perhaps best shown by the events of 9/11. They have not only taken American literature out from its long involvement in local matters such as family, village or town but pushed it into new directions which formed completely new types of novels such as the 9/11 novel, the post-9/11 novel or Ground Zero Fiction where war gained a new dimension which was so different from war literature of the First World War, the Second World War or the Vietnam War.

In most cases this literary coverage of 9/11 has mostly remained in American families or matters of 'home' and it lacked an appropriate coverage of the Muslim side and it is here where the novel analyzed here steps in.

Omar EI Akkad's novel American War (2017) exactly fits in this background not only because it is written by an author originating from a Muslim background it also brings the topic war back to America to discuss it here. This is new and radical in the sense that readers suddenly are confronted with problems such as war, terrorism, suicide bombers or chemical warfare which so far have been placed on foreign battlegrounds.

It is now the USA which is used to discuss matters which were formerly used under American Presidents with slogans such as 'Crusade' or 'Holy War'.

Omar El Akkad thus combines two main trends of Muslim writing which are characterized by bringing the narration into the West or by taking it back into the former colonies. By choosing a civil war as the background for his novel El Akkad mixes both trends while importing terror back to the USA which is to blame for it.

American War is a novel which contains several elements thus being an important representative of contemporary English speaking literature.