Don DeLillo

Stephen Burn (University of Glasgow)
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The thirteen novels Don DeLillo has written, between 1971 and 2003, have earned him a reputation as one of America's leading contemporary writers. Academic studies have made a case for him as “the most gifted stylist in American letters today”, while his engagement with subtle changes in American society has established him as an important influence on younger novelists, like David Foster Wallace who describes DeLillo as a “true prophet of . . . U.S. fiction.” DeLillo's novels anatomise the media and technological obsessions of America, finding a mix of modern paranoia and primitive fear at the heart of the contemporary self which he explores by writing about terrorism, celebrity, writers, mathematicians and the crucial shaping events of America's recent history.

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3910 words

Citation: Burn, Stephen. "Don DeLillo". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 03 October 2003 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=1214, accessed 21 November 2024.]

1214 Don DeLillo 1 Historical context notes are intended to give basic and preliminary information on a topic. In some cases they will be expanded into longer entries as the Literary Encyclopedia evolves.

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