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/lit/ - Literature

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8778148 No.8778148 [Reply] [Original]

A source of spurious profundity is DeLillo's constant allusions to momentous feelings and portents—allusions that are either left hanging in the air or are conveniently cut short by a narrative pretext. Jack ponders the clutter in his house: "Why do these possessions carry such sorrowful weight? There is a darkness attached to them, a foreboding. They make me wary not of personal failure and defeat but of something more general, something large in scope and content." What is this something large in scope and content ? We are never told. Later Jack registers "floating nuances of being" between him and his stepdaughter. Similar phrases turn up throughout DeLillo's novels; they are perhaps the most consistent element of his style. In Underworld (1997) a man's mouth fills with "the foretaste of massive inner shiftings"; another character senses "some essential streak of self"; the air has "the feel of some auspicious design"; and so on. This is the safe, catchall vagueness of astrologists and palm readers. DeLillo also adds rhetorical questions or other disclaimers to throw his meaning out of focus. Here, to return to White Noise, is another of Jack's musings.

>"We edge nearer death every time we plot. It is like a contract that all must sign, the plotters as well as those who are the targets of the plot."

>Is this true? Why did I say it? What does it mean?

The first and third of those questions are easily answered; after all, we edge nearer death every time we do anything. So why, indeed, does Jack say this? Because DeLillo knew it would seem profoundly original to most of his readers. Then he added those questions to keep the critical minority from charging him with banality.

>> No.8778182

I didn't get White Noise so this thread reinforces my opinions without my having to do any of the work.

H A C K

>> No.8778659

>>8778148
>we are never told
>please tell me what you r tryin 2 say u mean old man!
>abloo bloo bloo

>> No.8778691

Wrong. Gladney is a parody of the cultural critic/academic. He's a stand-in for DeLillo only as much as he's a pastiche of him. Moments like the greentext quote evince a near-collapse of the diegetic/"real"-authorial personae-- Gladney on the brink of a "religious instant," like Oedipa in Pynchon's Lot 49, nearly realizing the vacancy of his ontic status as a fictional character, a diminished, parodic representation of the author figure.

>> No.8779756

>>8778148
>we edge nearer death every time we do anything

false

>> No.8780223

>>8779756
Prove it.

>> No.8780270

i thought this book was boring and not great

>> No.8780367

>>8780223
It presumes men are fated to die at a certain time. However, I know if I take an action like purchasing healthy groceries or going for a run, I can "extend" my life for whatever thats worth. Conversely, I can accelerate death by smoking a cigarette. An action isn't necessarily just another way to wait to die.

>> No.8780375

>>8778148
nice pasta, faggot. at least have your own opinions.

>> No.8780391

is there a more misread author on this website than delillo?

>> No.8780524

>>8780367
You're presuming that free will exists though.

>> No.8780537

I hated white noise desu