- Paperback: 538 pages
- Publisher: Penguin USA (3 Dec 1998)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0140274987
- ISBN-13: 978-0140274981
- Product Dimensions: 19.7 x 12.8 x 2.5 cm
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 1,354,773 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
Did you know you can trade in your old books for an Amazon.co.uk Gift Card to spend on the things you want? Plus, get an extra £5 Gift Certificate when you trade in books worth £10 or more before June 30, 2012. Visit the Books Trade-In Store for more details. |
Product details |
More About the Author
Product Description
Product Description
Winner of the National Book Award in 1985, Don DeLillo's novel about an ultramodern family bound by love and remarriage, shopping and television, is a postmodern masterpiece. The Viking Critical Library edition of White Noise contains the complete text of the novel along with extensive critical and contextual material including a critical introduction by DeLillo scholar Mark Osteen; published interviews with DeLillo on White Noise, including a Paris Review interview by Adam Begley; relevant excerpts from other works by DeLillo; reportage of current events from the time of publication; selected reviews of White Noise by Diane Johnson, Pico lyer, and others; critical essays on White Noise by Frank Lentricchia, Arthur M. Saltzman, Tom LeClair, Paul Maltby, and other scholars; a chronology of DeLillo's life and work, a list of topics for discussion and papers, and a bibliography.
Tag this product(What's this?)Think of a tag as a keyword or label you consider is strongly related to this product.
Tags will help all customers organise and find favourite items. |
Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store
If you are a publisher or author and hold the digital rights to a book, you can sell a digital version of it in our Kindle Store.
Learn more
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Customer Reviews
There are no customer reviews yet on Amazon.co.uk.
5 star
4 star
3 star
2 star
1 star
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
25 reviews
27 of 30 people found the following review helpful
Post-Modernist and Funny as Hell
13 Jun 2001
Format:Paperback
In "White Noise" DeLillo proves himself to be the Balzac of the contemporary era, particularly that of america suburbia. Very basically it portrays the negative effects of technology on our society. Overwhelmed by information, we become anesthesized to our environment....we must filter out some the data that bombards our system, and indeed we filter out most of it. Our systems so burdened by the information that we treat all things with indifference....except for our own death, which remains the one thing we would like to filter out of our consciousness but dont seem able to do so.
Now, this all recalls the dry writings of Heidegger or Baudrillard, but instead DeLillo will have you laughing til you cry with certain passages. We have a Professor who is head of the "Hitler Studies" department (one thing about information overload is that people specialize in minutiae). His colleague, Murray, who philosophizes over food labels, wants to start an "Elvis Studies" department.
The concept of the "hyperreal" is evoked. For example, there is a tourist site near the college. It has no other appeal than the fact that it is the "most photographed barn" in America. Throughout the book we see the characters, just like many of us, concentrate on image rather than substance.
I have noticed that there is a review below by a man that claims that neither he nor his "brilliant" wife the engineer found anything of interest in "White Noise". I, too, am an engineer and know, by the way, that most engineers find themselves (often victims of self-deception) "brilliant". I speculate that the reason they could not understand this book is that they are too submerged in the "white noise" world of consumerism and information. In addition to that many engineers are afraid to address the issue of the dark side of technology.
18 of 19 people found the following review helpful
Fantastic Novel--Redundant Critical Essays.
24 Dec 1998
Format:Paperback
White Noise is one of the greatest postmodern novels ever written, and I will never look at academia (or the supermarket) the same way again. The critical essays, however, lack variety. Perhaps too little time has passed to give perspective on DeLillo's work, but the essayists in this volume continually focus on the same inidents and ideas from similar critical perspectives. No doubt this book will endure long enough for a more multifaceted critical edition to surface. For now, enjoy the novel itself as a brilliant social critique done with style and humor.
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful
Get this edition!
25 Nov 2004
Format:Paperback
I've sometimes asked myself why I don't get a library card and save the money I spend buying books. This book answered that question, because the reviews and essays featured in this edition provided such insight and enlightenment that I was inspired to return to the novel again and again for a more penetrating read.
The novel itself is beautifully, brilliantly written; DeLillo is a master ironist. Though I thoroughly enjoyed the novel the first time, I highly recommend revisiting it after reading the critical essays (which were so informative that they were quite enjoyable reads themselves).
If you're going to read White Noise outside of a college class, this is the edition you should get.
The novel itself is beautifully, brilliantly written; DeLillo is a master ironist. Though I thoroughly enjoyed the novel the first time, I highly recommend revisiting it after reading the critical essays (which were so informative that they were quite enjoyable reads themselves).
If you're going to read White Noise outside of a college class, this is the edition you should get.
Were these reviews helpful?
Let us know
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
Listmania!
Look for similar items by category
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
- I am the Author, and I want to comment on my book.
- I am the Publisher, and I want to comment on this book.
