White Noise

White Noise by Don DeLillo (1985) I saw some news that a movie is being made based on this novel, so I wanted to reread it before seeing it. I’m pretty fascinated to see what the approach will be. I first heard of it when I was in New York, the year it came out, and people were talking about it. I was working at the Strand Bookstore, and one day I was watching the rare book room, and Shel Silverstein was shopping. A couple of yuppies spotted him and started in on the small talk, and how every time they heard fluorescent lights humming, they now thought of the book, White Noise. He was polite, but I sensed an internal cringing. So, for a long time, whenever I thought of this book I thought of that incident. The book made a big impression on me, but I forgot the details, so it was worth rereading. What immediately comes to mind is both how dated it is, and how dated it isn’t—if that makes sense. A lot of the details (tons of popular culture references) now seem of the past—which might inspire nostalgia, or bad memories, or even seem quaint—but the sense of dread is still there, and it is as relevant to contemporary times as can be. I guess fear, overwhelmingness, confusion—and particularly the fear of death—are pretty timeless subjects. Also, it’s very funny—and it’s still just as funny to me—though maybe not in as eye-opening a way—as when I first read it. One particularly interesting thing is the obsession with tabloids—an ongoing theme, throughout. I almost had to stop and remember what a tabloid was—even though they are still there at grocery store checkouts, right? I have ignored them for so long, I guess, to almost make them disappear from my world. Of course, the internet has taken up the slack—and now, I suppose, people are either inundated with the tabloid insanity via their computers and phone—as well as the paper ones—one or the other—or both. It’s a societal disease we can’t seem to get rid of.