- Paperback: 246 pages
- Publisher: Vintage Books; Reissue edition (July 1989)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0679722947
- ISBN-13: 978-0679722946
- Product Dimensions: 20.3 x 13.3 x 1.4 cm
- Average Customer Review: 2.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 3,263,744 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
Running Dog
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More About the Author
Product Description
Product Description
DeLillo's Running Dog, originally published in 1978, follows Moll Robbins, a New York city journalist trailing the activities of an influential senator. In the process she is dragged into the black market world of erotica and shady, infatuated men, where a cat-and-mouse chase for an erotic film rumored to "star" Adolph Hitler leads to trickery, maneuvering, and bloodshed. With streamlined prose and a thriller's narrative pace, Running Dog is a bright star in the modern master's early career.
Book Description
Moll Robbins is a journalist in a rut. But she gets wind of a very exciting story: it concerns a small piece of celluloid, a pornographic film purportedly shot in a bunker in the climactic days of Berlin’s fall – with Hitler as its star. One person claims to have access to this unique piece of Naziana; inevitably, more than one want it. Unfortunately for Moll, in the black-market world of erotica, the currency is blackmail, torture and corruption; and no price is too high. As the paranoia builds and the combatants lose sight of their motives, their souls, even the object itself, DeLillo reveals the terrible truth behind our acquisitiveness. ‘This is a romantic novel in the gritty, precisionist, enigmatic modern mode . . . a full pleasure to read’ New Yorker
--This text refers to an alternate
Paperback
edition.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
3 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
In DeLillo's attempt at crime fiction 'Running Dog' the reader is exposed to the crime-ridden underbelly of 1970s New York. The author has clearly squeezed a lot into the short, tripartite structure- we begin in New York and by passing through Toronto and Berlin end up somewhere near Mexico! While similar in style to many of his other works, 'Running Dog' sees DeLillo push out the boundaries with somevery sinister moments and even more sinister characters. Although I didn't enjoy it as much as the likes of 'Underworld' or 'Libra' I still feel it casts enough light upon the character of the U.S.A. to merit reading if one is interested in such things. Like James Ellroy without the gratuitous violence!
1 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
The first book I read by DeLillo and not an auspicious start. A potentially interesting story (revolving around the potential sale of old porn movie allegedly starring Hitler) is never really developed and characters who could be interesting are never really explored. The writing is heavily stylised which I am not against but there is no tension produced, the plot is followed but with seemingly little enthusiasm and there is precious little action. None of the characters is likeable (not in itself a criticism) so the reader does not empathise or connect with any of them, or care what happens to them. To be honest it was relief when I finished the book, so that I could start another that was more engaging!
You get the feeling that DeLillo writes for his own pleasure and to prove how clever he is rather than for the reader's benefit. He is one of those authors everyone should try as he is well-regarded and maybe you will appreciate his work more than I, however I am now looking nervously at the 800+ pages of "Underworld" sitting on my bookshelf. Reading some of the critical reviews of that book on Amazon I could say many of the same negative things of "Running Dog" so I really don't think I'll bother attempting it.
You get the feeling that DeLillo writes for his own pleasure and to prove how clever he is rather than for the reader's benefit. He is one of those authors everyone should try as he is well-regarded and maybe you will appreciate his work more than I, however I am now looking nervously at the 800+ pages of "Underworld" sitting on my bookshelf. Reading some of the critical reviews of that book on Amazon I could say many of the same negative things of "Running Dog" so I really don't think I'll bother attempting it.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
14 reviews
12 of 12 people found the following review helpful
DeLillo 101
30 July 1998
Format:Paperback
For anyone who is looking to get involved in the paranoiac, conspiracy-riddled world of Don DeLillo, Running Dog is a perfect jumping-off point. Replete with all the DeLillo standards-ambiguous, dangerous characters, postmodern disenchantment, the spectre of violence and war, voyeurism, as well as humor, compassion and loss-Running Dog serves as DeLillo 101. Before engaging in the complexities of White Noise, Underworld, Mao II or Libra (for which Running Dog is a kind of template), try this shorter, lighter version of DeLillo's later work. The subject, at least initially, is simple: in the mad dash for material conquests (in this case, an antiquated porno film supposedly depicting members of the Third Reich engaged in lewd sexual acts) the combatants lose sight of their motives, their souls, and most alarmingly the item itself. Commentary on war, sex, greed and our modern version of self-realization.
36 of 46 people found the following review helpful
My Favorite DeLillo Novel!
16 Jan 2000
Format:Paperback
Running Dog is essentially a witty and sarodnic spy/intrigue/romance. DeLillo in a bar room brawl with Ian Fleming, Graham Greene, Charles Willeford and Larry Flynt. It's like punk rock DeLillo. Filled with porn, sex, violence, apathy, lecherous men and empowered women and DeLillo's Hitler fixation, manifested here less incidentaly than in White Noise. For my money its the least indulgent and most readable and fun novel of DeLillo's ouevre. All Of Chuck Palahniuk's work is a sort of cross between Running Dog and Vonnegut's Sirens Of Titan and Cat's Cradle. If you like Palahniuk, then Running Dog will offer you a great bridge to step up to DeLillo. For those who were turned off to DeLillo after yawning through Underworld and its hype, then Running Dog will be a revelation. If you don't agree with Penguin Books and have a hard time considering White Noise to be one of the greatest books of the 20th Century, up there with Ulysses, The Big Sleep and Madame Bovary, (Don't worry-neither do I) take it from me- You'll love Running Dog. I won't bother giving you a plot summary because do you really need me to reiterate what the publisher and Amazon says above? Alrighty then. Running Dog's a lot of fun!
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Like espionage, smut or Chimp's in suits?
30 Mar 2005
Format:Paperback
The characteristic strongest in Running Dog is ominous suspense, a coming-to from any angle. While it suffers from the De Lillo style of excessive psycho-analysis/stream of consciousness association, it is made up of meetings, usually between two people, sometimes three, in varied and interesting places.
An airplane sauna, in a car heading south on a straight highway, a Nude Reading room, an art gallery/apartment, a vollyball court in Central Park where tennis is being played, a limousine with St. Bernard puppies, a fire escape, magazine offices, an abandoned espionage training facility, a motel in the woods, a minibus, Capitol Hill, a Georgetown home, an apartment roof, and more.
At these places peoples jockey for information or sexual connection, seeking the treasure which incites them all, directly and indirectly into a void of contact and codes.
I found Running Dog engrossing, and was amazed at De Lillo's capacity for langauge and image. His dialogue scenes begin without formality and are influenced as much by the memory or his characters as their present intentions.
Searching for a long lost film which may or may not come to rank as a legendary smut film, over a dozen characters cross paths in attempts toward victory and knowledge. Time and space shifts across the country, and an America of double and triple dealings, hidden collections and taboo tastes, lost and won partnerships skirts along toward understood oblivion.
An airplane sauna, in a car heading south on a straight highway, a Nude Reading room, an art gallery/apartment, a vollyball court in Central Park where tennis is being played, a limousine with St. Bernard puppies, a fire escape, magazine offices, an abandoned espionage training facility, a motel in the woods, a minibus, Capitol Hill, a Georgetown home, an apartment roof, and more.
At these places peoples jockey for information or sexual connection, seeking the treasure which incites them all, directly and indirectly into a void of contact and codes.
I found Running Dog engrossing, and was amazed at De Lillo's capacity for langauge and image. His dialogue scenes begin without formality and are influenced as much by the memory or his characters as their present intentions.
Searching for a long lost film which may or may not come to rank as a legendary smut film, over a dozen characters cross paths in attempts toward victory and knowledge. Time and space shifts across the country, and an America of double and triple dealings, hidden collections and taboo tastes, lost and won partnerships skirts along toward understood oblivion.
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