Contemporary American Literature

Spring Semester 2011

Prof.dr. Rodica Mihaila
CURS DE LILLO

Don De Lillo 1!"#$% & gre' up in (ron) in *talian$American+ catholic family. ,raduated
from communications
-ot formally a postmodernist 'riter he distanced himself from campus life and
theoretical discourse%+ he is fascinated .y the condition of postmodernity.
$ his central literary talent is that of mimicry. *n 12 no/els and other stories and
essays+ plays+ $ Andy 0arhol1 s prints and the Postmodern logic of endless
replication is a 'ay of approaching his 'or2. 0arhol1s art suggests that if one
reproduces indefinitely+ then e/entually the 'ay .ac2 to the original 'ill .e
lost+ the image no longer signifying anything .eyond its o'n duplication.
$ this is the starting line for DeLillo1s fiction3 the transformation of the familiar
into the alien4 the /anishing point at 'hich the original disappears.
$ on the one hand+ his 'or2 ta2es place 'ithin an o/er'helmingly cinematic
and tele/isual setting+ an optical landscape comprising u.i5uitous 67 screens+
.ill.oards and monitors+ a .om.ardment of da88ling electronic imagery. (ut
there is also an unsettling sense of in/isi.ly a.out his 'or2 & a feeling that
contemporary reality has outdistanced any language 'ith 'hich to descri.e it.
$ 9is 'riting is concerned 'ith the emergence of a technological and
.ureaucratic space 'hich 'e cannot e/en .egin to descri.e
$ His themes3 technology+ conspiracy+ secret codes and ca.als : see Pynchon%
$ Themes:
$ $$*n se/eral of his no/els+ DeLillo e)plores the idea of the increasing /isi.ility
and effecti/eness of terrorists as societal actors and+ conse5uently+ the
displacement of 'hat he /ie's to .e artists;+ and particularly no/elists;+
traditional role in facilitating social discourse Players+ Mao **+ <alling Man%
1
$ Another perpetual theme in DeLillo;s .oo2s is the saturation of mass media
and its role in forming simulacra 'hich ser/e to remo/e an e/ent from its
conte)t and alter or drain its inherent meaning see the high'ay shooter
inUnderworld+ the tele/ised disasters longed for in White Noise+ the planes in
6he psychology of cro'ds and the capitulation of indi/iduals to group identity
is a theme DeLillo e)amines in se/eral of his no/els especially in the prologue
to Underworld, Mao II and Falling Man+
White Noise (1984) = concern 'ith hyper real and the simulacrum. an ironic comedy
a.out the mass replication of images in modern America and the an)iety technology
engenders in its characters1 precarious sense of identity.
$ protagonist=>ac2 ,ladney+ a paranoid professor of 9itler studies at a
Mid'estern college . 0- addressed the media and the idea of mediation as it
occurs in a 'ide range of disguises.
$ concern 'ith the po'er of the media to in/ade consciousness and 'ith the
idea that all contemporary Am e)perience is crucially informed .y modes of
representation 'hich determine consciousness at e/ery le/el.
-ot only American contemporary e)perience. <or instance
Mao II (1991) & e)plores the impact of mass culture on a glo.al le/el. 6he place of the
'riter in cotemporary society. 0hat place is left for the indi/idual in the face of the
totali8ing ideologies of the media? Perhaps the future .elongs to the cro'ds@. 1#% &
e)tinction of intimacy+ indi/iduality+ or any 2ind of original /oice.
6he mass 'edding conducted .y the Re/erend Moon is framed /ia the
photographic image+ Ainstamatic@ couples 1B"% 'ith comic$.oo2 hair and air.rushed
s2in Afilling picture frames 'ith their microcosmic .odies@10%. A6hey ta2e a time$
honored e/ent and repeat it and repeat it until something ne' enters the 'orld@+ notes one
onloo2er+ the couples .ecoming an undifferentiated mass+ a 'a/e+ Alifted .y the picture$
ta2ing+ the framing of aura 1C%+ mo/ing outside the representation entirely.
$ *n the fictional 'or2 of De Lillo+ character negotiate their ironic or pathetic
'ay through a culture defined .y its consumption3 not so much of the actual
2
as of the imaginary+ the promissory image offered to them on the tele/ision
screen.
$ De Lillo is the no/elist as anthropologist+ sifting through American li/es as
signifiers of their culture to see 'hat place there is+ if any+ for the notion of the
indi/idual or the authentic
6he psychology of cro'ds and the capitulation of indi/iduals to group identity is a theme
DeLillo e)amines in se/eral of his no/els especially in the prologue to Underworld, Mao
II and Falling Man+ *n a 1!!" inter/ie' 'ith Maria -adotti+ DeLillo e)plained
My .oo2 Mao **%+ in a 'ay+ is as2ing 'ho is spea2ing to these people. *s it the 'riter
'ho traditionally thought he could influence the imagination of his contemporaries or
is it the totalitarian leader+ the military man+ the terrorist+ those 'ho are t'isted .y
po'er and 'ho seem capa.le of imposing their /ision on the 'orld+ reducing the
earth to a place of danger and anger. 6hings ha/e changed a lot in recent years. Dne
doesn;t step onto an airplane in the same spirit as one did ten years ago3 it;s all
different and this change has insinuated itself into our consciousness 'ith the same
force 'ith 'hich it insinuated itself into the /isions of (ec2ett or Eaf2a
-o/elist and terrorist
Sursa3 -e' For2 6imes3 6he place of the 'riter the no/el% in contemporary
society is discussed through the parallel .et'een the no/elist and the terrorist. *n the
typical manner of terrorist no/els+ Mao ** mingles the nightmare of political /iolence
'ith the fantasy of the same creating a nightmare$dream am.i/alence+ com.ining the
no/elist1s .oast a.out his po'ers 'ith a lament o/er their decline+ and mingling
detestation of the terrorist 'ith a distinct if shameful en/y.
$ *n the terrorist no/el Conrad1s Secret Agent+ De Lillo1s Players GG+% the
terrorist 'as the pu.lic sym.ol ma2er the no/elist 'ished and failed to .e. 6errorists
might .e a no/elist1s ri/als+ as in Mao **+ .ut they 'ere also his pro)ies. -o matter ho'
realistic+ the terrorist no/el 'as also a 2ind of metafiction.
$in Mao ** :no terrorists among the main characters. -o/elist (ill ,ray is as2ed
.y his former editor to gi/e a poetry reading to help free a S'iss poet spy >ean Claude
"
>ulien% ta2en hostage in (eirut .y capturing the attention of the media. 9e stages his o'n
death+ then dies on a ferry and some.ody steals his passport.
$ last chapter3 (rita the photographer% no longer ta2es pictures of 'riters. She is
in Hast (eirut to inter/ie' and ta2e pictures of a local leader terrorist?% A.u Rashid.
$ ri/alry .et'een no/elist$terrorist: (ill ,ray complains that te no/elist has .een
superseded .y the terrorist as an infiltrator of e/eryday consciousness Athe maIor 'or2
in/ol/es midair e)plosions and crum.led .uildings.@ 6his e)aggerated the historical role
of the no/el+ though not+ the ne' eminence of terror. pp 1CB$#0% Ain societies reduced to
.lur and glut+ terror is the only meaningful act.@
$De Lillo sa' that no/elists+ li2e terrorists+ 'ere solitary and o.scure agents Amen
in small rooms+@ preparing symbolic provocations to .e unleashed on the pu.lic 'ith a
.ang. J6he terrorist spo2e in Athe language of .eing noticed+ the only language the 0est
understands@. 6error is instantaneous+ is a /isual phenomenon for its spectators+ the no/el
as2s for patience+ is /er.al and interior.
K