Dylar
1st edition
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| Author | Don DeLillo |
|---|---|
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Postmodern novel |
| Publisher | Viking Adult |
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Publication date
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21 January 1985 |
| Media type | Print (hardback & paperback) |
| Pages | 326 pp (first hardcover) |
| ISBN | |
| OCLC | 11067880 |
| 813/.54 19 | |
| LC Class | PS3554.E4425 W48 1985 |
White Noise is the eighth novel by Don DeLillo, published by Viking Press in 1985. It won the U.S. National Book Award for Fiction.
White Noise is an example of postmodern literature. It is widely considered DeLillo's "breakout" work and brought him to the attention of a much larger audience. Time included the novel in its list of "Best English-language Novels from 1923 to 2005". DeLillo originally wanted to call the book Panasonic, but the Panasonic Corporation objected.
Set at a bucolic Midwestern college known only as The-College-on-the-Hill, White Noise follows a year in the life of Jack Gladney, a professor who has made his name by pioneering the field of Hitler studies (though he hasn't taken German lessons until this year). He has been married five times to four women and rears a brood of children and stepchildren (Heinrich, Denise, Steffie, Wilder) with his current wife, Babette. Jack and Babette are both extremely afraid of death; they frequently wonder which of them will be the first to die. The first part of White Noise, called "Waves and Radiation," is a chronicle of contemporary family life combined with academic satire.
There is little plot development in this first section, which mainly serves as an introduction to the characters and themes which will dominate the rest of the book. For instance, the mysterious deaths of men in "Mylex" (intended to suggest Mylar) suits and the ashen, shaken survivors of a plane that went into free fall anticipate the catastrophe of the book's second part. Beyond the Gladney family, another important character introduced here is Murray Jay Siskind, also a college professor and friend of Gladney, who frequently discusses his theories, which relate to the rest of the book.
In the second part, "The Airborne Toxic Event," a chemical spill from a rail car releases a black noxious cloud over Jack's home region, prompting an evacuation. Frightened by his exposure to the toxin, Gladney is forced to confront his mortality. An organization called SIMUVAC (short for "simulated evacuation") is also introduced in Part Two, an indication of simulations replacing reality.
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Wikipedia