Description
Book SynopsisApocalyptic Ruin and Everyday Wonder in Don DeLillo's America is a fresh and engaging study of last things in Don DeLillo's worksthings like death, mourning, and the decline of the American empire, but then also the apocalypse, the last judgment, and the end of the world more generally. Michael Naas untangles complex themes in short, witty chapters that highlight and celebrate DeLillo's inventive and playful writing, employing a novel approach to literary criticism. Making no use of secondary sources, the book is entirely a discussion of DeLillo''s work, accessible to any level of readership while maintaining a firm grasp of the theory necessary to make this unique argument.And yet, this book is also about all the things that double or shadow those last things in the very same works, like the wonder of language or the radiance of everyday events. From
Americana (1971) up through
Zero K (2016) and
The Silence (2020), and perhaps like no other American author,
Trade ReviewMichael Naas's
Apocalyptic Ruin and Everyday Wonder in Don DeLillo's America displays a thorough knowledge and an impressive thematic cartography of Don DeLillo's oeurve. This invaluable synthesis, which consider's DeLillo's work through the lens of
contrabanding, illuminates the contradictions that make America what it is and confirms DeLillo's magisterial and uninterrupted examination of America as a country and as an idea. * Karim Daanoune, Associate Professor in American Literature, Université Paul Valéry-Montpellier, France *
In
Apocalyptic Ruin and Everyday Wonder in Don DeLillo’s America, Michael Naas artfully delineates the dense web of thematic crosscurrents and connections that run through DeLillo’s entire oeuvre. Naas foregrounds the pleasure of reading DeLillo, allowing the humour of the works to be reflected in his own distinctive and accessible writing style. Naas reads DeLillo’s fiction as a body of theoretical enquiry in itself rather than applying existing theory and criticism, making this an innovative and necessary addition to scholarship. * Rebecca Harding, Independent Scholar, UK *
Table of ContentsAbbreviations of Works by Don DeLillo Preface: Last Things 1. Countermovements America…New York, New York…“USA! USA! USA!”…The West, the Desert, and, Inevitably, California…Automobiles…Airplanes…Beyond America 2. Countercurrents Sports, Games, Sports Gaming…Academia…Philosophy…Technologies of Life and Death 3. Counterproductions Empire, Capital, the Corporation…Money…Advertising…Consumerism and Waste 4. Counterhistories American History 2.0…Terrorism…9-11, The Twin Towers…Creation and Ruin…War and Peace 5. Countermeasures Self and Others…The Individual and the Crowd…Prophylactics and Purifications...The Shit, the Shower, the Shave, and the Haircut 6. Counterforces Life and Death…Mourning…The Afterlife…The Apocalypse…The Omega Point, the Death Drive 7. Counterworlds Space…Time…Space-Time…Religion… Miracles…The Everyday…Earth, Moon, Sun…Radiance Conclusion: Silent Mode (The Future of Contraband) Acknowledgements
