Author Spotlight
It’s a bird it’s a plane
I wonder if Scribner, publishers of Don Delillo’s Underworld (1997), thought much about their cover after September 11, 2001. Delillo’s novels work high off prophetic allusions, almost desperate for dystopia, so the cover detail above showing a bird approaching the side of one of the World Trade Center towers seems like sad good luck (not to mention the twin towers in his last name). No social commentary is complete without a passive-aggressively placed Cross, a solemn mark increasing the +3000 headcount by 1. It’s all math they say, the number of copies sold, which is why massive books are not sold by the pound. To be nominated for a National Book Award is to lose, no matter how shiny the embossed sticker is. If Don tells you that at a party, you’ll know he got that from me.
Tags: DeLillo
Scribner knew: http://mrbellersneighborhood.com/2001/10/don-delillo-and-the-towers
and after all delillo wrote his 9/11 book nine years before (forget his tame ‘falling man’) with ‘mao II’ (again, more twin towers!).
Scribner knew: http://mrbellersneighborhood.com/2001/10/don-delillo-and-the-towers
Don DeLillo doesn’t go to parties. And if he did, he wouldn’t talk to you.
and after all delillo wrote his 9/11 book nine years before (forget his tame ‘falling man’) with ‘mao II’ (again, more twin towers!).
Don DeLillo doesn’t go to parties. And if he did, he wouldn’t talk to you.
reading underworld is like experiencing a coma dream
Yes, you may not realize it, but the eerie parallels between the cover of Underworld and 9/11 were discussed a LOT in the years after 9/11…
Yes. This made Falling Man all the more disappointing. He’d already written his 9/11 novel(s) and then wrote a literal take on the event. No book “about” that event can touch what Delillo’s written on the general topic before 2001 – as noted in the article I cite above.
Love that book.
sorry
sorry 2
thanks
Some of the finest poker writing ever to grace the printed page is in Falling Man. The difference he captures between an established, old home game and the rape-all numbness of a casino game is pitch perfect.
Yes, you may not realize it, but the eerie parallels between the cover of Underworld and 9/11 were discussed a LOT in the years after 9/11…
Yes. This made Falling Man all the more disappointing. He’d already written his 9/11 novel(s) and then wrote a literal take on the event. No book “about” that event can touch what Delillo’s written on the general topic before 2001 – as noted in the article I cite above.
Love that book.
sorry
sorry 2
thanks
Some of the finest poker writing ever to grace the printed page is in Falling Man. The difference he captures between an established, old home game and the rape-all numbness of a casino game is pitch perfect.
gotta copy? check the copyright date.
gotta copy? check the copyright date.
I’d prefer it if we discussed The Squeeze instead:
http://t0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn%3AGjU5wKYEMdy1LM%3A%3Awww.impawards.com%2F1987%2Fsqueeze.html&t=1&usg=AFrqEzed2Zs48kyN5P7b3YAh1Lnu-30yQQ
I’d prefer it if we discussed The Squeeze instead:
http://t0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn%3AGjU5wKYEMdy1LM%3A%3Awww.impawards.com%2F1987%2Fsqueeze.html&t=1&usg=AFrqEzed2Zs48kyN5P7b3YAh1Lnu-30yQQ