Product Description

Winner of the National Book Award, White Noise was immediately hailed as Don DeLillo's "breakout novel" when it first appeared in 1985. The novel entertains a wide array of compelling topics and concerns with consummate agility. Study this spot-on satire of post-war America.

The title, Don DeLillo's White Noise, part of Chelsea House Publishers' Modern Critical Interpretations series, presents the most important 20th-century criticism on Don DeLillo's White Noise through extracts of critical essays by well-known literary critics. This collection of criticism also features a short biography on Don DeLillo, a chronology of the author's life, and an introductory essay written by Harold Bloom, Sterling Professor of the Humanities, Yale University.

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Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #4053 in Books
• Published on: 1999-06-01
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 320 pages

Amazon.com
Something is amiss in a small college town in Middle America. Something subliminal, something omnipresent, something hard to put your finger on. For example, teachers and students at the grade school are falling mysteriously ill:

Investigators said it could be the ventilating system, the paint or varnish, the foam insulation, the electrical insulation, the cafeteria food, the rays emitted by microcomputers, the asbestos fireproofing, the adhesive on shipping containers, the fumes from the chlorinated pool, or perhaps something deeper, finer-grained, more closely woven into the fabric of things.

J.A.K. Gladney, world-renowned as the living center, the absolute font, of Hitler Studies in North America in the mid-1980s, describes the malaise affecting his town in a superbly ironic and detached manner. But even he fails to mask his disquiet. There is menace in the air, and ultimately it is made manifest: a poisonous cloud--an "airborne toxic event"--unleashed by an industrial accident floats over the town, requiring evacuation. In the aftermath, as the residents adjust to new and blazingly brilliant sunsets, Gladney and his family must confront their own poses, night terrors, self-deceptions, and secrets.

DeLillo is at his dark, hilarious best in this 1985 National Book Award winner, a novel that preceded but anticipated the explosion of the Internet, tabloid television, and the dialed-in, wired-up, endlessly accelerated tenor of the culture we live in. He doesn't just describe life in a hypermediated society, he re-creates it. His characters repeat phrases, information, and rumor gleaned from television, radio, and other media sources like people speaking in code. And DeLillo has seeded the book with short gemlike episodes that demand to be read aloud, and that haunt the imagination years after their first reading: a visit to the Most Photographed Barn in America. A plane that nearly falls out of the sky. An hour in a classroom, canonizing Elvis. These vignettes are vivid and unique, yet, like the phrases from television shows that interject themselves, out of context, into Gladney's consciousness, they are strangely unconnected to one another--reflections of the lives DeLillo is showing us we lead. --Jan Bultmann

From Publishers Weekly
Chairman of the department of Hitler studies at a Midwestern college, Jack Gladney is accidently exposed to a cloud of noxious chemicals, part of a world of the future that is doomed because of misused technology, artifical products and foods, and overpopulation. PW appreciated DeLillo's "bleak, ironic" vision, calling it "not so much a tragic view of history as a macabre one." January
Copyright 1985 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From AudioFile
It's very difficult listening to Michael Prichard narrate the first two tapes of this wicked satire. His voice is a tinny mess that holds no emotional weight; he seems to fight DeLillo's words every step of the way. But then a remarkable metamorphosis takes place around Tape 3. Prichard adjusts his voice, smoothes his timbre, and realizes that the author has written a really great story. He still reads with a monotone, but his inflections hit the words just right, and a subtle, snide tone enters his realm. Another book saved! The moral of the story is to stick with this book, and Prichard, through the rough spots. You will be rewarded with the never-wavering magic of DeLillo, and some good laughs. R.I.G. © AudioFile 2001, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine

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Customer Reviews

Good but not exceptionally original
Delilo's White Noise is an existentialist tale about people's relationships with the media, technology, mortality and each other. It's a well written book that has some creative scenes (those in the grocery store) and characters (Murray, Wilder)that give the book depth. Delilo uses these strengths to explore his main themes.
However, I didn't think his ideas were very original, and so I only gave his book 3 stars.
Mankind's love/hate with technology was captured in Frankenstein, so it's nothing new here. The absurdist's dilemma of how to live in a godless world goes back to Camus and Dostoievski. So, while Delilo creates a novel with depth, he doesn't create a novel novel.
I think that reading the authors above would be a better way to spend your time.

A masterpiece of satire and prose
By R.Taylor (Not BLT Taylor and not a music review). My first impression of "White Noise" by Don DeLillo was that this book was scattered and going nowhere. But with an author of such acclaim, I went back and started again. This is when I saw the satire and caught its impact and the strong messages about the fear of death and the role it plays in our lives, and how we deal with, or try to avoid dealing with, the fear of death. DeLillo's message about our conventions, diversions and obsessions that we utilize as our "white noise" to deal with the daily rat race also came home with a poignant, and sometimes
comical impact. The book provided great food for thought and discussion for our monthly book club.

Edgy and Profound
If you have a taste for the edgy and profound, you must read this book. I laughed out loud several times while reading this...it stands out as brilliantly conceived and just plain fun. Definitely the work of an intelligent and astute male writer. It is disjointed and there are a lot of nonsequiturs interspersed throughout the story, but this is actually kind of the point. I enjoyed being treated to the common dilemma of Americans in America through the eyes of the narrator, who seemed quite sane until the end...but getting through to the end makes it entirely worthwhile. I admire the ending and wasn't quite sure how he would pull it off, but he did. The dialogue is what really makes this fun to read...there are entire conversations between people that would never plausibly take place in reality and yet they somehow resonate with the reality we experience, the unspoken agreements. This is not a traditional novel and you should be prepared for that and in the mood for something witty and verbose prior to embarking.