Understanding Don DeLillo

by Henry Veggian

Henry Veggian introduces readers to one of the most influential American writers of the last half-century. Winner of the National Book Award, American Book Award, and the first Library of Congress Prize for American Fiction, Don DeLillo is the author of short stories, screenplays, and fifteen novels, including his breakthrough work White Noise (1985) and Pulitzer Prize finalists Mao II (1992) and Underworld (1998).

Veggian traces the evolution of DeLillo's work through the three phases of his career as a fiction writer, from the experimental early novels, through the critically acclaimed works of the mid-1980s and 1990s, into the smaller but newly innovative novels of the last decade. He guides readers to DeLillo's principal concerns―the tension between biography and anonymity, the blurred boundary between fiction and historical narrative, and the importance of literary authorship in opposition to various structures of power―and traces the evolution of his changing narrative techniques.

Beginning with a brief biography, an introduction to reading strategies, and a survey of the major concepts and questions concerning DeLillo's work, Veggian proceeds chronologically through his major novels. His discussion summarizes complicated plots, reflects critical responses to the author's work, and explains the literary tools used to fashion his characters, narrators, and events. In the concluding chapter Veggian engages notable examples of DeLillo's other modes, particularly the short stories that reveal important insights into his "modular" working method as well as the evolution of his novels.

168 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2014

Reviews

[Liam Furlong · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read Henry Veggian's Understanding Don DeLillo as a teaching companion to DeLillo's 1985 breakthrough White Noise. As one of Veggian's former students, I knew that he values brevity and concision in critical texts and was not disappointed to see that characteristic clarity in his own work. At the same time, Veggian brings an intellectual rigor and appetite to Understanding Don DeLillo that covers every available touchstone we have on the withdrawn author's life. It's a thorough read, for sure, one only rendered possible through genuine enthusiasm for the subject.

Indeed, I can feel Veggian's passion for DeLillo's books humming behind the pages in a way that charges his scholarly integrity with a sincere schoolboy giddiness. From the White Noise chapter alone, I'm left with the impression that, long ago, Veggian read DeLillo for the first time and was blown away, certain that this uniquely prescient writer would become important to him personally. I'm sure this is the case; after all, Veggian himself introduced me to DeLillo in a conversation I remember now as my introduction to my now-favorite author. For that, I'm grateful.

The White Noise chapter reminds me of one of my favorite scholarly phrases: depth makes breadth. Veggian carves out myriad avenues into the text that have fueled discussions with my own students, but I still get the sense that there is so much to unpack not in spite of Veggian's heavy lifting but because of it. His interests and questions propagated our own. Responding to this book, my students pushed against the end of our two-hour period with their own questions that left all of us wishing for another hour (a seemingly impossible feat, considering attention spans nowadays). Perhaps I'm being immodest, but I seriously doubt it.

The point being: Veggian's Understanding Don DeLillo passes on the author's passion to the reader, who in turn gains the ability to spread this contagious affection to first-time- and long-time-DeLillo readers alike. I myself have only read six of DeLillo's books, though as I continue reading the author's canon, you can bet your bottom dollar I'll be consulting Veggian's compendium along the way.

[Sebastiano Saraceno · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very good survey and introduction to DeLillo's fiction.