Circular Time

As one of the most prestigious contemporary American novelists, Don DeLillois always called as Post-modern novelists. His Falling Man, published in2007, is oneof the representative novels about9/11. Falling Man, which revolves around anordinary American family, has illustrated the tremendous impact of the historicalevent on the spiritual life of American people.Falling Man breaks the traditional linear narrative structure, blends multiplenarrative voice and runs through the past, present and future with a common thread. Inthe novel, Don DeLillo has discussed the intrinsically paradoxical nature of history,pointed out the multiplicity and uncertainty of reality.This thesis, with the help of Genette’s narrative theory and Nietzsche’s eternalreturn viewpoint, analyzes the postmodern narrative strategies presented in the novel,and draws the conclusion that things will go through loss and recurrence over andover again, but only having experienced the eternal return, can life be real.The body of this paper consists of three chapters: the first chapter analyzes thenon-linear time sequence in Falling Man, and the analysis will focus on thejuxtaposition of two contrasting narratives, the Keith family line and the hijackerHammad line. The second chapter will concentrate on the fragmented narrative in thisnovel, like how the author interweaves the past and the present with confused timeorder. And the second chapter intends to analyze the analepses used in this novel, suchas constant use of completing analepses and repeating analepses. The focus of thethird chapter will be put on the circular time arrangement in Falling Man, for examplehow the narrative ends where it starts. With the three chapters analyzed, this papertries to get the conclusion that after the9/11terrorist attacks, American people seemto fall into an “eternal return” plight, their lives are full of fragments, disorders andhopeless repetitiveness. However, confused as it is, Don DeLillo still takes an positiveattitude, in his novel, for a new start of another return, still believes in Americannation’s possibilities.