Remembering 9/11: personal and political narratives in post-traumatic memoirs

Whether personal or political, the memoirs of 9/11 explore trauma, shape identities, and contribute to collective memory. This article examines how narratives by survivors, those who lost family members, and political decision-makers express the fragmented experiences of that day, offering a broad range of voices that tell the story of 9/11 in their own way. Alissa Torres’s graphic memoir, American Widow (2008) and Lauren Manning’s Unmeasured Strength (2011) are poignant personal accounts of resilience and overcoming trauma. Vice President Dick Cheney’s political memoir In My Time (2012) provides an official, objective description of the day that changed the world in September 2001. The memoir presents a political framing of 9/11 as a justification for subsequent policies, including the War on Terror, the invasion of Iraq and the USA Patriot Act. While engaged with the national tragedy, Cheney’s writing lacks the personal stakes found in Torres’s or Manning’s trauma-filled narratives. The three texts will be analysed contrastively, using an interdisciplinary approach that combines trauma theory, cultural studies, and narrative theory.