Out of the Blue: Interview on Post-9/11 Fiction

Sooner than later I'm going to read Out of the Blue: September 11 and the Novel (compliments of Columbia University Press), which examines 4 post-9/11 novels. American Fiction Notes interviews author Kristiaan Versluys:

You note that there are about 30 literary novels available currently about 9/11. Were there other 9/11 books that you considered writing about at length? I suspect you’ve already heard from people wondering why the book doesn’t mention, say, Joseph O’Neill’s Netherland or Ken Kalfus’ A Disorder Peculiar to the Country.

In order to keep the study manageable, I made the decision early on to deal only with novels in which 9/11 is not just a background event, but in which it plays an essential role in the plot development. Apart from the two novels you mention, there are more novels of merit in which 9/11 is part of the background . . .