Arin Keeble

Arin Keeble's research focuses on the way contemporary literature and culture represents and responds to terrorism, crisis and disaster. Under this umbrella he is working in three distinct areas: the '9/11 novel', narratives of Hurricane Katrina and contemporary American television (particularly David Simon and TV audiences in the UK). He currently has significant projects underway in each of these areas.

The '9/11 Novel' – Dr Keeble's work in this area has sought to move beyond a polarised critical paradigm that has pitted domestic narratives of trauma in opposition to more outwardly facing political narratives. This was the subject of Dr Keeble's doctoral research, and he has published three peer reviewed articles in Modern Language Review, Reconstruction and European Journal of American Culture in this area. Additionally, his monograph, The 9/11 Novel: Trauma, Politics and Identity was published by McFarland in 2014. His most current work in this area is an article on Thomas Pynchon's Bleeding Edge (2013) entitled 'Before and After in Bleeding Edge', which is under review.

Narratives of Hurricane Katrina – Dr Keeble's work on Katrina focusses on the ways in which literary, cinematic and televisual narratives of Katrina respond not just to the Katrina crisis, but also to the politics of the War on Terror, and to the perceived apolitical nature of many early narratives of 9/11. Dr Keeble's first publication in this area was 'The Aggregation of Politics in Dave Eggers Zeitoun' which appeared in the peer reviewed Journal of Comparative American Studies (13.3). Dr Keeble has also guest edited a special issue of European Journal of American Cultures which comes out later this year, and includes his article on David Simon's television series Treme (2009-2013) 'Won't Bow, Don't Know How: Treme, and New Orleans Exceptionalism'. Additionally Dr Keeble is working on a new monograph on Katrina narratives which will appear in 2017.

American Television – Dr Keeble's first published work in this area was a co-edited collection of essays with Dr Ivan Stacy (Hong Kong Baptist University) on David Simon's The Wire (2002-2008) which appeared in 2015, The Wire and America's Dark Corners: Critical Essays. Dr Stacy and Dr Keeble have continued to collaborate on the subject of David Simon's television; their co-guest edited special issue of European Journal of American Cultures features eight new essays on Simon. Dr Keeble's interest in US television extends to the way it is received by UK audiences and he is developing an audience studies partnership project with a colleague at Durham University and two major UK cultural cinemas.