Don DeLillo & Terry Gross & Underworld/part 1

[pawsoned]

I think what Delillo does in Underworld for New York is parallel to what Joyce did do Dublin in The Dubliners, namely he transmuted it into a brilliant masterpiece.

[sydferret]

I know what you mean by "realer than real". A book of fiction best explains in Libra.

[yossarian9]

It's amazing how prescient Delillo was regarding the growing power of images and the thin line between televised reality and televised fiction -- especially in light of 9/11. "Realer than real" describes my memory of the event unfolding; it also, in a bizarre way, seemed too real to be real. It seemed out of a Delillo novel.

[ghoststar]

@yossarian9 the ideas u mention preceded delillo by several years. most notably in the book SIMULACRA AND SIMULATION by baudrillard. most of the philosophy in delillo's novels were first textualized in either book or essay form before delillo included them in his fiction. for instance, the idea of airports in UNDERWORLD was extensively discussed in the book NON-PLACES by marc auge. but i certainly give credit to delillo for incorporating these difficult ideas into his fiction.

[yossarian9]

@ghoststar Really interesting. Thanks for the reply.

[wuz352]

Delillo, Auster, now that would be a Yankee game I'd go to. Who are the other two gentlemen?

[ghoststar]

@wuz352 delillo i admire. although i really only liked WHITE NOISE (i think i read maybe seven delillo novels). but auster... i read three of his novels, and that was three too many. even my graduate advisor dislikes him, saying, "if you've read one auster novel, you've read them all." auster is a very poor writer. his characters r flat and stereotypical and no more than obvious pawns used to develop a theme. he is the king of the detective novel with no resolution.