Problema

WHITE NOISE Don DeLillo Text and Criticism Don DeLillo was born in 1936 in the Bronx, New York, and educated at Fordham University. He is the author of eleven novels, including White Noise (1985), which won the National Book Award, and Libra (1988), which won the Irish Times-hex Lingus International Fiction Prize. His 1991 novel Mao II won the PEN/ Faulkner Award. Other novels include Americana(1971), End Zone (1972), Running Dog (1978), and The Names (1982). His most recent novel is Underworld (1997). Don DeLillo is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters. Mark Osteen is an associate professor of English at Loyola College in Maryland. He is the author of The Economy of Ulysses: Making Both Ends Meet and coeditor of The New Economic Criticism. His articles on modern andpostmodern fiction have appeared in such journals as Modern Fiction Studies, Contemporary Literature, Twentieth Century Literature, Review of Contemporary Fiction, and James Joyce Quarterly. He is currently completing a book on Don DeLillo entitled American Magic and Dread: Don DeLillo's Dialogue with Culture.

THE VIKING CRITICAL LIBRARY

DON DeLILLO

White Noise
TEXT AND CRITICISM EDITED BYMark Osteen

PENGUIN BOOKS Copyright © Don DeLillo, 1984, 1985 Copyright © Mark Osteen, 1998

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CONTENTS Introduction Chronology I White Noise: The Text I Waves and Radiation II The Airborne Toxic Event 21 III Dylarama II Contexts Anthony DeCurtis from MATTERS OF FACT AND FICTION Adam Begley from DON DeLILLO: THE ART OF FICTION Caryn James "I NEVER SET OUT TO WRITE AN APOCALYPTIC NOVEL" DonDeLillo from AMERICANA Don DeLillo from END ZONE Don DeLillo from PLAYERS Don DeLillo SILHOUETTE CITY: HITLER, MANSON AND THE MILLENNIUM Newsweek from IT WAS LIKE BREATHING FIRE... III Reviews Sol Yurick FLEEING DEATH IN A WORLD OF HYPER-BABBLE Albert Mobilio DEATH BY INCHES Diane Johnson CONSPIRATORS Pico Iyer A CONNOISSEUR OF FEAR IV Critical Essays Tom LeClair CLOSING THE LOOP: WHITE NOISEFrank Lentricchia DON DeLILLO'S PRIMAL SCENES John Frow THE LAST THINGS BEFORE THE LAST: NOTES ON WHITE NOISE John N. Duvall THE (SUPER)MARKETPLACE OF IMAGES: TELEVISION AS UNMEDIATED MEDIATION IN DeLILLO'S WHITE NOISE Cornel Bonca DON DeLILLO'S WHITE NOISE: THE NATURAL LANGUAGE OF THE SPECIES Arthur M. Saltzman THE FIGURE IN THE STATIC: WHITE NOISE Paul Maltby THE ROMANTIC METAPHYSICS OF DON DeLILLOTopics for Discussion and Papers Selected Bibliography

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Introduction White Noise has often been dubbed Don DeLillo's "breakout book." This term is usually meant in one of two ways: either that the work has achieved greater commercial success than an author's previous works, or that it has raised the author's art to a higher level. In the case of White Noise, the second is arguable, butthe first is definitely true, for the novel garnered the best reviews and strongest sales of DeLillo's career to that point. It is not difficult to understand why it became one of the most widely acclaimed fictional works of the 1980s: its mordantly witty anatomy of the post nuclear family; its sly satire of television, advertising, and academia; its letter-perfect portrayal of the sounds and sightsof supermarkets, malls, and tabloids all strike chords that reverberate strongly with contemporary Americans. When White Noise was first published in January 1985, reviewers were struck by its timeliness; indeed, appearing only a month after a toxic chemical leak at a Union Carbide plant in Bhopal, India, killed some 2, 500 people, DeLillo's novel--with an "airborne toxic event" at itscenter--seemed almost eerily prescient. Although a few reviewers criticized its plot (or alleged plotlessness), found its witticisms too clever, or accused the author of "trendiness," these voices were drowned out by a chorus of praise. As they did in his earlier novels, reviewers recognized the validity of DeLillo's insights about the oppressive effects of contemporary cultural institutions and applauded...