The Cambridge Companion to Don DeLilloWith the publication of his seminal novel White Noise, Don DeLillo was elevated into the pantheon of great American writers. His novels are admired and studied for their narrative technique, political themes, and their prophetic commentary on the cultural crises affecting contemporary America. In an age dominated by the image, DeLillo's fiction encourages the reader to think historically about such matters as the Cold War, the assassination of President Kennedy, threats to the environment, and terrorism. This Companion charts the shape of DeLillo's career, his relation to twentieth-century aesthetics, and his major themes. It also provides in-depth assessments of his best-known novels, White Noise, Libra, and Underworld, which have become required reading not only for students of American literature, but for all interested in the history and the future of American culture. |
Contents
| 1 | |
Aesthetic and cultural influences | 11 |
DeLillo and modernism | 13 |
DeLillo postmodernism postmodernity | 27 |
Early fiction | 41 |
DeLillo and media culture | 43 |
DeLillos apocalyptic satires | 53 |
DeLillo and the political thriller | 66 |
Underworld | 108 |
Themes and issues | 123 |
DeLillo and masculinity | 125 |
DeLillos Dedalian artists | 137 |
DeLillo and the power of language | 151 |
DeLillo and mystery | 166 |
Writing amid the ruins911 and Cosmopolis | 179 |
Select bibliography | 193 |
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Common terms and phrases
aesthetic American apocalyptic assassination Baudrillard Beckett becomes Billy Body Artist Bronx Bucky camera capitalism characters Cold Cold War contemporary Cosmopolis critical crowd Dallas David death DeCurtis DeLillo’s fiction DeLillo’s novels depicts DePietro Don DeLillo echoes edited End Zone essay experience fantasies feel film Frank Lentricchia Fredric Jameson global Harkness human identity imagination Jack Gladney Jack’s James Joyce Jameson Jean Baudrillard John Jones Street Joyce Kennedy Kennedy assassination language Lauren Lee Harvey Oswald Libra live Lyle Mao II Mark Osteen masculinity media culture modernism modernist mystery Names narrative narrator Nick Nick’s novelist objects Oswald Pammy paranoia photograph Players political postmodern protagonist Ratner’s Star reality role Running Dog scene sense shooting silence social sublimity suggests T.S. Eliot television terrorism terrorist things thriller tion Tuttle Underworld University Press violence waste White Noise White Noise 1985 words writing Wunderlick York