Don DeLillo
Author of White Noise
About the Author
Don DeLillo was born in the Bronx, New York on November 20, 1936. He received a bachelor's degree in communication arts from Fordham University in 1958. After graduation, he was a copywriter for an advertising company and wrote short stories on the side. His first story, The River Jordan, was show more published two years later in Epoch, the literary magazine of Cornell University. His first novel, Americana, was published in 1971. His other works include Ratner's Star, The Names, Libra, Underworld, The Body Artist, Cosmopolis, Falling Man, Point Omega, and The Angel Esmeralda, a collection of short stories. He won several awards including the National Book Award for fiction in 1985 for White Noise, the PEN/Faulkner Award in 1992 for Mao II, the PEN/Saul Bellow Award for Achievement in American Fiction in 2010, and the inaugural Library of Congress Prize for American Fiction in 2013. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
Works by Don DeLillo
Amazons: An intimate memoir by the first woman ever to play in the National Hockey League (1980) 73 copies
Don DeLillo: Three Novels of the 1980s (LOA #363): The Names / White Noise / Libra (Library of America, 365) (2022) 63 copies
Submón [1 : Pròleg. Parts 1-3] 2 copies
The Itch 2 copies
Midnight in Dostoevsky 2 copies
Linha Final 2 copies
איש נופל 1 copy
Baader-Meinhof 1 copy
Associated Works
Storming the Reality Studio: A Casebook of Cyberpunk and Postmodern Science Fiction (1991) — Contributor — 248 copies
Novel History: Historians and Novelists Confront America's Past and Each Other (2001) — Contributor — 134 copies
The New Mystery: The International Association of Crime Writers' Essential Crime Writing of the Late 20th Century (1993) — Contributor — 62 copies
Hebbes 2 : 15 smaakmakers voor het voorjaar — Contributor — 3 copies
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Canonical name
- Delillo, Don
- Other names
- Birdwell, Cleo
- Birthdate
- 1936-11-20
- Gender
- male
- Nationality
- USA
- Birthplace
- The Bronx, New York, USA
- Places of residence
- New York, New York, USA
- Education
- Fordham University (BA|1958)
- Occupations
- novelist
- Awards and honors
- Jerusalem Prize (1999)
Lila Wallace-Readers Digest Award (1995)
Irish Times International Fiction prize (1989)
American Academy of Arts and Letters Award (1984)
Guggenheim Fellowship (1979)
Man Booker International Prize Finalist (2007) (show all 9)
Library of Congress Prize for American Fiction (2013)
American Academy of Arts and Letters (Literature ∙ 1989)
Carl Sandburg Literary Award (2012)
Members
Discussions
Group Read, March 2018: Underworld in 1001 Books to read before you die (March 2018)
White Noise by Don DeLillo, (Bowie's Top 100 for June) in 75 Books Challenge for 2016 (June 2016)
Reviews
"The Itch" by Don DeLillo. Short story in The New Yorker, Aug. 7 & 14, 2017
***
Two things kept my interest: 1. How will he end this story, the ramblings of a man who suffers constant itching over his body? 2. The writing format used to unfold the story. He used short graphs that jump from one scene to another including several doctor visits, a sort-of love life, and a friend who has his own obsession (the sound of his peeing into a toilet bowl forms words.). This all blends together in a final graph, which brought an "oh" more than a "wow" from me. Still ... it's the kind of story that lingers after you've read it. It would spoil the intent if I said more. Possible moral: If you have an itching problem, it becomes the center of your universe. (5-9-2024)… (more)
***
Two things kept my interest: 1. How will he end this story, the ramblings of a man who suffers constant itching over his body? 2. The writing format used to unfold the story. He used short graphs that jump from one scene to another including several doctor visits, a sort-of love life, and a friend who has his own obsession (the sound of his peeing into a toilet bowl forms words.). This all blends together in a final graph, which brought an "oh" more than a "wow" from me. Still ... it's the kind of story that lingers after you've read it. It would spoil the intent if I said more. Possible moral: If you have an itching problem, it becomes the center of your universe. (5-9-2024)… (more)
First DeLillo book on recommendation by a friend. I enjoyed the writing style. I also enjoyed the ambling-ness of the story. It has a strange obsessive-nostalgic element to it that works well.
A Prescient Novel We've Learned Nothing From
The novel is listed on "The Greatest Books.org", and won the National Book Award. My copy had
a long and thoughtful forward, and about 100 pages of afterword analysis and interviews with the author. I acknowledge that the author wrote an insightful satire of late 20th century life...specifically consumerism, mass media and academia. The FEAR of DEATH is more than a a theme in the story. It is a character. The fear of death inspires adultery and attempted murder, among other poor life choices we allegedly make in order to suppress it.
Although it is thought provoking, I found it depressing and anxiety producing. Glad to be finished with it.… (more)
The novel is listed on "The Greatest Books.org", and won the National Book Award. My copy had
a long and thoughtful forward, and about 100 pages of afterword analysis and interviews with the author. I acknowledge that the author wrote an insightful satire of late 20th century life...specifically consumerism, mass media and academia. The FEAR of DEATH is more than a a theme in the story. It is a character. The fear of death inspires adultery and attempted murder, among other poor life choices we allegedly make in order to suppress it.
Although it is thought provoking, I found it depressing and anxiety producing. Glad to be finished with it.… (more)
Lists
Fiction For Men (1)
Indie Next Picks (1)
1990s (1)
To Read (1)
1970s (1)
Books (1)
Short and Sweet (1)
1980s (1)
Overdue Podcast (1)
hopes (2)
My TBR (3)
Unread books (3)
A Novel Cure (1)
100 New Classics (1)
Simon & Schuster (1)
2005-2010 (1)
Awards
You May Also Like
Associated Authors
Statistics
- Works
- 44
- Also by
- 32
- Members
- 43,823
- Popularity
- #382
- Rating
- 3.6
- Reviews
- 739
- ISBNs
- 853
- Languages
- 30
- Favorited
- 196
This was not my favorite DeLillo novel. I had a hard time finding a reason to like this one. It is a story that had potential and I liked some aspects but mostly I did not like this one. There are themes of language, marriage, religion, politics, writing. There is a bit of mystery but it’s not enough. This just wan’t my thing. I d think the “politics” was spot on.