Hysterical Realism in DeLillo's White Noise and Cosmopolis Death Phobia, Hypochondria, and Religious Revival | ||
| لوجوس | ||
| Article 13, Volume 7, Issue 7, December 2011, Pages 298-334 PDF (427.7 K) | ||
| Document Type: المقالة الأصلية | ||
| DOI: 10.21608/logos.2011.400983 | ||
| Author | ||
| Nader Helmy | ||
| Cairo University | ||
| Abstract | ||
| The present study aims at proving that the novels of Don DeLillo (1936) belong to the genre of hysterical realism. In White Noise (1985) and Cosmopolis (2003), DeLillo highlights the repercussions of modernism and postmodernism in the American society, and which eventually lead to diminish the spiritual aspect of religion, and magnify materialistic values represented by scientific, technological and medical advances. Hysterical realism in White Noise and Cosmopolis is mainly incarnated in the characters' desperate and absurd attempts to escape their fear of death and to adhere to the mundane life. The study critically tackles the characteristics of hysterical realism, and the common features in the two novels. Two important findings of the study are: DeLillo's severe criticism of the chaotic skeptic world created by embracing postmodern ideals; and DeLillo's implied invitation for the Americans to revive the role of religion in their life, so as to act as a spiritual remedy for the evils of the modernist-postmodern world. | ||
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