"Terrorism" in Literary Cavalcade

"Terrorism" in Literary Cavalcade

Robert Cormier's essay "Terrorism" for Literary Cavalcade recounts the author's thoughts on terrorism from his St. Paul hotel room as he waits for his breakfast from room service. He talks of the facelessness of terrorism and the doubt that follows from that uncertain identity. He fears that his coffee might have been tampered with. While he admits this is far-fetched, he also claims that the circumstances around the Tylenol crisis seemed just as impossible. He makes a brief mention of his novel, After the First Death, and the tragedy that its themes of terrorism are still so relevant. He pays the room service employee who delivered his breakfast and wondered if the Tylenol terrorist looked as nondescript. Cormier states that we are vulnerable to terror at all times and as he has no solution to the problem, the best he can do is have the resolve to keep going with life and drink his coffee.

Literary Cavalcade Magazine

Robert Cormier Collection at Fitchburg State University's Amelia V. Gallucci-Cirio Library

October 1986

Elise Takehana, Anna Consalvo

JPG, 8.5 x 11 glossy magazine paper

English