>>7560897
Haven't read Underworld, but I can tell you that White Noise, surprisingly, is pretty much as relevant a commentary on media and technology today as it was in '85

>>7560897
>the paralyzing fear of ones own inevitable demise
yeah such dated themes

It's only 'dated' insofar as it addresses the foundation of our times. How is that not worth reading?

>>7560897
there is no way you understood this book if thats what you think

>>7560897
Underworld is really long

>>7560916

Well, not completely dated. I still very much appreciated the themes of alienation from one's peers and isolation from one's "real" life. But the whole "academia is masturbatory" idea seemed a bit warmed-over by the 21st century.

As far as White Noise is concerned, Delillo was spot on with where the world was headed - anxiety over terrorism, the decline of social skills for modern America, suburbia as a kind of purgatory, etc. That's what I got from it, at least. So many authors (and other artists for that matter) borrowed so heavily from what he was putting down that, by the time I read him, it wasn't original anymore. And I'm concerned that I'll have a similar feeling when tackling his later works.

Read The Trial then read White Noise again.

>>7560897

It was never worth reading. Delillo's writing has the charm and humor of an English professor. A book can only ever be as interesting as the person who writes it.

I'm a third of the way through IJ at the moment and I keep thinking, "This is good, but Underworld is better." (Referring to trying to capture the undercurrents of contemporary America in a profound yet entertaining way). So yeah, I say read Underworld.

hes publishing a new book this year

>>7561198
delillo's much better than pynchon

that said he's pretty average

>>7560897

The themes of media and simulacrum are more poignant than ever - the simulacrum in particular.

His indictment of consumerism aged horribly though, I'll agree with you on that.

>>7560897
Delillo is Pynchon with real characters and suspense.

Delillo only becomes more relevant, not less.

>>7561753

Would you say they are similar? That is, IJ and Underworld. What's great about Underworld?

I just finished White Noise a few days ago, and absolutely loved it. First DeLillo I've read. Your post made me curious about Underworld. Would you say it's a good next choice when it comes to DeLillo, or should I familiarize myself with his other works beforehand?

>>7562338
Mao II and Libra.

>>7560897
It was never worth reading.
Themes in themselves are relevant, but everything he has to say is about as insightful as Ready Player One.

>>7562023
>His indictment of consumerism aged horribly though
A bit of a digression: this is one reason why I think the charge against David Foster Wallace of derivativeness doesn't hold much water ultimately. Things like pointing out the problems of consumerism still need to be said, now maybe more than ever, and said in ways that resonate with people today. Even if something's been said before, it merits saying again if it's still relevant. And I think Wallace's treatment of the subject (in IJ or 'Ex Unibus Pluram' say) is still fresh (but can maybe use a tune-up soon, the latter piece in particular).

>>7562338
Not him but I read Underworld in about a week. It's not difficult at all. It's great.

Libra would be another good one.

>>7562350
>>7562612

Interesting, thanks. I think I'll check out Libra beforehand, then tackle Underworld.

A week for a +800 books is pretty quick. It's not particularly dense then? I finished Infinite Jest just a few weeks ago, and have been a bit wary of beginning a behemoth-book again, as it took a long, long time to plow through IJ. Worth it but fatigued me.

DeLillo is probably the most enduringly relevant American writer alive. White Noise, Mao II and The Names are masterpieces. Underworld is a bit ponderous and "insists upon itself" in my view. Seemed like a very telegraphed attempt at a Great American Novel. His style is almost unrecognisable even on a syntactical level.

>>7562655
just read 100 pages every day? It's like 2 hours of reading a day for most people.

>>7561198
nah

It's one of those horrible things where you look around at all the other anons in the playground and you see that they're holding lumps of shit in their hands. They're comparing their lumps of shit, talking animatedly about how great their lumps of shit are; the few anons who have still not held a lump of shit in their shit-virgin hands are eagerly waiting for the opportunity to do so. The anons think the lumps of shit they're holding are nuggets of gold. And it's so terrible because the shit they are holding prevents them from holding other, better, things. I keep trying to tell the anon-kuns,
>That's not gold anon, stop with the messing around. You know you're holding a lump of shit. Please anon.

But they always come back with the same retorts.

>go back to reddit fag
>god is it summer already
>you just don't get it, back to HoL, fanboy

There are so many of them in the playground and they get so angry with me, my brave dissenting voice - "contrarian" - it begins as a whisper in the crowd but it catches. Soon it's spreading across anon, taking on a meme like nature, until all the anon-chan are chanting the word at me. By this point I'm crying, my back against the wall, my feet scrabbling against the astroturf. The crowd of anons move closer, moving as a single organism. I notice many of them have their cocks in their hands. The organism thrums and throbs, it envelops me completely. I close my eyes and continue to weep as everything fades to black.

Btw White noise is shit desu.

>>7562838
do you get paid to tell people not to read delillo?

>>7562868
Nope, I think it's a novel with something to say about contemporary America, if only the writing wasn't dry, boring and emotionless.

>hurr that's the point anon

I don't care, the book is fucking boring.

>>7560942
The way he portrayed mass media and its effects are more relevant than ever. Nothing really deals with the way we're constantly inundated with messages that blend together into a chaotic soup of meanings and associations the way white noise does expect maybe Finnegans Wake but that was Joyce trying to portray the subconscious rather than a cultural commentary.

>>7562918
>muh emotions
>>>rbooks

>>7562918
It's been a while since I read it, but I recall the dialogue in particular being very deadpan and funny.

>>7562681
I wish. If i read that fast I don't remember anything.

>>7561198
How do you judge how "interesting" a person is? Tom Brady is interesting to people who like sports. Terence McKenna is interesting to people who like psychedelics. "Interesting" is determined solely by personal preference.

>>7563112
As a rule of thumb, the fewer things a person finds interesting, the less interesting they are. In other words that Anon is himself a boring twat.

If I were to read and Underworld and dislike it, should I totally quit on reading more Delillo?

>>7563112

Most people don't find career novelists who have a lot of half-baked, trivial things to say about our culture very interesting.

>>7563237
"Half-baked" and "trivial" are both subjective terms, i.e. determined by preference

>>7563251

Yes, and this is where you hit me with the highly relevant points you think this book made. It's called a discussion board.

A book like this is nothing more than a disguised essay. It lives and dies by the points it makes. Writers like Delillo and DFW forget to make a point, which is probably why the latter was so concerned about being seen as a fraud.

>>7562838

That was a very verbose and circumstantial way of saying "the things I like are better than the things you like and therefore I am smarter".

Tell me what's wrong with White Noise. Bonus points if you avoid lengthy diatribes about playgrounds and shit.

>>7563177
Definitely not. I love Delillo and found Underworld a little boring.

>>7560897
Of course he is. Did you read Point Omega?

Also, Zero K otw, senpai.

>>7562918
> implying the Texas Highway Killer sections weren't spooky as fuck and a perfect encapsulation of CNN culture

>>7563285
I haven't read the book so I have no idea what relevant points it makes. As you said, this is a discussion board, and I'm pointing out that subjective statements should be recognized as such, and that discussion won't succeed if opinions are stated as truths

I like that you referenced DFW close to the phrase "disguised essay," because I feel like that's a term I enjoy using to describe his work as well

I'd only argue, from my limited personal experience (which is about 700 pages of IJ and half of The Girl with Curious Hair) that DFW never forgets to make a point -- just the opposite, in which he elaborates his themes (mainly through his dialogue between characters, and is portrayal of certain characters that paints them as symbols and metaphors more than characters) so extensively it can be jarring to some readers

I will say that his work seems cartoon-y and exaggerated to me, so that a lot of his humor doesn't feel like humor, but more like jokes, the equivalent of a literary Family Guy where all the funny parts are non sequiturs that don't contribute to the overall meaning, and in this sense I can see how you could construe that as him forgetting to make a point

It's beyond worth it. Relevant beyond all belief. DeLillo is in the top 3 greatest living authors, and he is one of the top 5 American authors of the last half of the 20th century.

>>7563466
His fictions were essays and his essays were fiction. ;-)

>>7563482
I've read maybe like three pages of a DFW essay and I found that everything I disliked about his fiction voice worked really well for me in the nonfiction format

I say this in every White Noise thread but... maybe wait a few years and read it again. I read the book when I was 20 and I thought it was pretty boring. It was like, aha, I get it, modern life. Then I reread it a few years later and I got it. I'd read a few more DeLillo books since then. There's something insightful or hilarious on every page, and if you don't find the themes relevant, at least enjoy the pitch-perfect line-by-line prose.

>>7563466

If something has a point (a GOOD point), you can put that shit in big, capital letters. A point so full of Truth that you don't need more than one sentence for it to be recognized. Maybe two if it's super complicated.

"Our culture is full of superfluous information" is not a good point. It's the first half of what might be a good point. "Our culture is growing more adept at distracting us" is the first half of what might be a good point- and worthy of being the entire theme of a 900 page novel.

Then again, brevity is like poison to humanities academia. So maybe I'm dumb for expecting anything different.

>>7563518
lol

>>7563518

not worthy I mean

>>7563292
Already said it in a reply to one of the replies to my post. Read it and weep gayboy

>>7563518
I always thought art's role wasn't to create new truths, but to describe them effectively. Take Anne Beattie's Chilly Scenes of Winter, which is about a guy who got dumped and is now living in stagnancy -- this is hardly a profound, breakthrough concept that teaches you the depths of existence. However, it conveys the protagonist's life so well and clearly that it brings the reader into its own world on its own terms

The point of the book then isn't "Our culture is full of superfluous information," but "this is what it's like to live in a culture full of superfluous information," drawing your attention to things you hadn't noticed

You could be completely right that the book doesn't do this effectively. I wouldn't know, I haven't read it lol

But I think it is important to think about the role of literature and what it's meant to do/tell its intended audience

>>7561129
Pairing those is a neat thought. I've read both but the thought has never occurred to me. How do they mesh do you think?

>>7561753
As someone who's only a moderate reader of both (so far) I've found that DeLillo is Wallace's intellectual equal but a more talented writer.

Read IJ, Broom of the System, point omega and Angel Esmeralda, all in the last year ( and more, if someone keeping score & is compensating lack of life with reading books) I think delilo is "dry"the writing is great, but it lacks something. Also have the feeling he tries to be relevant/predicting the future, which he fails at. Just started Miss Wyoming by Coupland, feels like YA after delilo ( not trying to be edgy, just my opinion)