by Sally Hicks
September 5, 2002 | DURHAM, NC -- God blesses America, but God blesses Afghanistan, too, says Duke University theologian Stanley Hauerwas.
It's a difficult thing to say amid the proliferation of bumper stickers proclaiming God's special blessing for this country. But Hauerwas, a Christian pacifist honored by Time magazine as America's Best Theologian, feels he must say such things.
That's why he said yes when Duke literature professor Frank Lentricchia -- called "the Dirty Harry of literary criticism" by the Village Voice -- asked him to co-edit a collection of critical reactions to Sept. 11.
The result: a special issue of the Duke Press journal South Atlantic Quarterly called "Dissent from the Homeland: Essays after September 11" that publishes Sept. 11.
The collection comprises 17 provocative responses to the tragedy by people who felt alienated by the nation's reaction to the events, were critical of the government's response to the terrorist attacks or opposed the war in Afghanistan.
"We've had wall-to-wall, unreflective patriotism in this country -- we're trying to crack through it," Lentricchia said.
"Dissent from the Homeland" includes a poem by the Catholic priest and social activist Daniel Berrigan; a photo-essay of Ground Zero by Time magazine contract photographer James Nachtwey; and writings by the new Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams and poet-farmer Wendell Berry. Five Duke professors contributed: in addition to Hauerwas and Lentricchia, there are pieces by Susan Willis and Fredric R. Jameson of the Literature Program and Jody McAuliffe, associate professor of the Practice of Theater Studies and Slavic Languages and Literatures.
Hauerwas and Lentricchia say they feel passionately that the intellectual community has failed to offer dissenting viewpoints on Sept. 11, and hope to offer an alternative.
"I think academics have silenced themselves," said Lentricchia. "Of course, there has been plenty of patriotic bullying on the part of Bush and Cheney and Rumsfeld."
The idea for this special issue came from SAQ Managing Editor Tammi Brooks, who thought this scholarly journal on literary and cultural topics could offer an intelligent assessment of last fall's events.
"There is a thirst for critical thinking about this topic," she said.
She also thought it would be a fitting subject for this particular issue of SAQ. It marks the 100th anniversary of the journal and also commemorates the "Bassett Affair," when Duke trustees struck a blow for academic freedom by resisting pressure to fire SAQ editor John Spencer Bassett because of his progressive views on race relations.
She broached the idea with Lentricchia, then the SAQ editor, who invited Hauerwas to co-edit the project. In a half-hour's time, the pair drew up a list of people they thought might want to contribute.
They hope to reach beyond the small, academically centered world of SAQ's usual readership with more accessible pieces, aimed at a broader audience. The journal was registered on search engines, and also is available on Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble online.
"I don't know if it's going to be a New York Times bestseller, but I do think there are people who want to hear something other than 'God Bless America,'" Brooks said.
Readers certainly will find that in "Dissent from the Homeland." In "Groundzeroland," Lentricchia and McAuliffe explore the comments of avant-garde composer Karlheinz Stockhausen, who provoked a furious reaction by declaring, on Sept. 16, that the attack on the World Trade Center was "the greatest work of art possible in the whole cosmos."
Studying notions of art and consumer culture, they note, "If George Bush is right that we should show patriotism by going on vacation and spending money, then visiting Groundzeroland is a patriotic act. … Experience the Warholian conflation of violent, tragic, mass media news with the patriotic glory and glamour of death. Pose for a picture: mix disaster and death with stardom and beauty."
In the poem that opens the journal, anti-war activist Berrigan asks: "Why did they fall, what law/ violated? Did Mammon/ mortise the money/ that raised them high, Mammon/ anchoring the towers in cloud,/ highbrow neighbors/ of gated heaven and God?"
Hauerwas wrote a "Pacifist Response" that explains his belief that, as a Christian, his first loyalty is not to the United States, but to God's church.
"Do I forsake all forms of patriotism, failing to acknowledge that we as a people are better off because of the sacrifices that were made in World War II? To this I can only answer, 'Yes,'" he writes.
"Christians are not nonviolent because we believe our nonviolence is a strategy to rid the world of war, but rather because faithful followers of Christ in a world of war cannot imagine being anything else than nonviolent."
Lentricchia teases his co-editor about such words provoking a "Hauerwas Affair." But the two men are serious about prompting discourse about Sept. 11, even if their ideas are unpopular.
"It's just a duty. It's not something you want to do," Hauerwas said. "This is our contribution to common life."
