Chemistry Reference
In-Depth Information
Powers in particular phrase their analysis of what we might call
'everyday chemistry' with a seemingly conscious cultural specificity.
Moreover, these three authors are commonly bracketed together -
Powers, for instance, has been described as “one of the few younger
American writers who stake a claim to the legacy of Pynchon and
DeLillo”, while DeLillo in turn has been said to share the 'mad
willfulness' of Pynchon - and I feel that part of the reason for this is the
way that they are able to engage in an informed way with the immediacy
of our chemical and material world.
DeLillo's take on this issue is illustrated most clearly in his 1984
novel
White Noise
. This, the eighth of his novels, is widely regarded as
his 'breakthrough' work, an accessible and highly entertaining satire on
the fears and myths of contemporary American life. It exemplifies what
critic Charles Molesworth has identified as DeLillo's recurrent themes:
No other contemporary novelist could be said to outstrip DeLillo in his
ability to depict that larger social environment we blandly call everyday
life. Brand names, current events, fads, the society of the spectacle, and
the rampant consumerism that has become our most noticeable, if not our
most important, contribution to history, all are plentifully and accurately
recorded throughout DeLillo's work. [Molesworth 1991]
Yet
White Noise
divided critics and reviewers. Some saw it as a
straightforward critique of the American way of life: a 'liberal' attitude
that infuriated conservative commentators. For others, it was almost a
celebration of that same post-modern perspective, in which high art is
mixed with consumer culture and the philosophy of Nietzsche is no more
or less valid than the philosophy of the breakfast-cereal packet. “DeLillo
has been read both as a denouncer and as a defender of post-modern
culture”, says Mark Osteen (2000), who feels that neither interpretation
really fits
White Noise
.
From the very first paragraph, which describes the return of students
to college after the summer vacation, DeLillo makes it clear that he is
pre-occupied with the material and specifically the synthetic aspects that
pass unquestioned in modern American life:
As cars slowed to a crawl and stopped, students sprang out and raced to
the rear doors to begin removing the objects inside; the stereo sets, ra-
dios, personal computers; small refrigerators and table ranges; the car-
