The Jewel of P-listers' library/DeLillo

[Chris Broderick]

The operative words here being "adopt a tone".  One
never gets the sense with DeLillo that his characters
are independent from the narrator.  He's a very witty
and often pretty (in an austere way) writer, but I
often think of him as being like Otto in the
Recognitions, at cocktail parties thinking up bon mots
after the fact that he'll end up shoehorning into his
narrative.  The best drawn characters in all of
DeLillo's works are famous people like Jedgar &
Oswald.

It seems self-evident that he came from a background
in advertising copywriting, where one is specifically
concerned with having your words make a tangible
effect on the reader, with branding.  DeLillo's a lot
more concerned with elegant sentences than he is with
inhabiting characters or telling stories.

For the record, this criticism comes from someone
who's read & enjoyed a lot of DeLillo.  White Noise &
Libra and pieces of Underworld were quite good.  But I
certainly understand why some would find his stuff too
clever by half.

-Chris

From: robinlandseadel at comcast.net
Subject: RE: The Jewel of P-listers' library/DeLillo

DeLillo can adopt a tone of coldness, and that sense
of distance can be 
very off-putting to some. The opening of "Underworld"
is great, a must 



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