White Noise is one of the great novels of the last two
decades, but most definitely not hard-boiled. It's plenty
dark, but not "noir" either. It's about a professor of
"Hitler Studies" at a small liberal arts college whose family
is falling apart. Then a mysterious and toxic environmental
accident hits.
Actually, like most of DeLillo, its less a great "novel" (in
classical terms of story and character development) than an
amazing piece of writing - extended brilliant and (despite
the bleakness of the subject matter) hilarious jazz-like
riffs on comtemporary culture high and low. DeLillo has a
genius for analyzing (if not really dramatizing) the forces
at work in modern society - ideological, technological,
pharmacological, political
(with a focus on terrorism) and cultural (with a focus on
celebrity) - and how they get inside our heads and frame the
way we think. Heady stuff, often obsessive and
claustrophobic, often thigh-slapping funny - but not
hard-boiled.
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