New Essays on White Noise

The American Novel series provides students of American literature with introductory critical guides to the great works of American fiction. Each volume begins with a substantial introduction by a distinguished authority on the text, giving details of the novel's composition, publication history, and contemporary reception, as well as a survey of major critical trends and readings from first publication to the present. This overview is followed by a group of new essays, each specially commissioned from a leading scholar in the field, which together constitute a forum of interpretative methods and prominent contemporary ideas on the text. There are also helpful guides to further reading. Specifically designed for undergraduates, the series will be a powerful resource for anyone engaged in the critical analysis of major American novels.White Noise, the story of a professor of Hitler studies and his family, was DeLillo's breakthrough book and has received much attention and critical acclaim. In the introduction to this volume, Frank Lentricchia provides an overview of the novel's critical reception, while examining it in the context of other works by Don DeLillo. The other essays in the volume discuss DeLillo's view of family and divorce, Hitler's role in the twentieth century, technology as a mortal threat, and postmodern America. This collection offers suggestive means by which to approach DeLillo's important contemporary work.