Missions Resources - Bibliography
White Noise
Authors: DeLillo, Don
ISBN: 0-14-027498-7
Publisher: New York: Penguin, 1998
Type of cover: Soft Cover
Summary: If there is a Great American Novel for the second half of the twentieth century, this is it. Acclaimed from its initial publication as a post-modern masterpiece, White Noise is already available in a critical edition, with a slew of essays and editorials – only fourteen years after its first appearance.
The story follows a year in the life of a liberal arts professor at a private university in the Midwest. Between his dealings with his kids, who serve as oracles, interpreting society to him; an industrial accident; and the supermarket, the narrator becomes a piece in the machine, who sometimes doesn’t really mind being one.
Don DeLillo subtly and convincingly develops a thesis about Americans that shocks and enlightens the reader: that Americans fill their lives with white noise to cover their fear of death, because they have no cultural resources for confronting this basic reality of life. This book is the single most profound cultural analysis of America on the Urbana reading list. Read it with A Little Handbook on having a Soul, for an eternity-minded prescription to go with this perceptive diagnosis.
-P. G.
Have a different opinion? Send it in and we'll post it!
Print
Email
Comments
Be the first one to add a comment.
To post a comment, please login or register