Don DeLillo's "Underworld": The artful reality of simulacra

Table of Contents

1. INTRODUCTION

1.1 Some Evidence of Don DeLillo’s soon-to- be Canonical Status within the Academy

1.2 Getting in Touch with Don DeLillo

1.3 Why Underworld?

1.4 Beyond the 20th Century: Don DeLillo and Avant-Pop

2.TURNING HISTORY INTO ART: UNDERWORLD’S POLITICS AND AESTHETICS PART I

2.0 Some Preliminary Remarks

2.1 Don DeLillo and Postmodern Theories

2.2 Artists, Works of Art, and Media Technology in Underworld

2.2.1 The Modern-Postmodern Binarism

2.2.2 Underworld’s Artist Figures

2.2.2.1 The Art of Filing: J. Edgar Hoover

2.2.2.2 The Art of Killing: Richard Henry Gilkey and the Media

2.2.2.3 The Art of Talking—Part 1: Russ Hodges

2.2.2.4 The Art of Talking—Part 2: Lenny Bruce

2.2.2.5 The Art of Painting the World—Part 1: Ismael Munoz

2.2.2.6 The Art of Painting the World—Part 2: Klara Sax

2.2.3 “Underworlds” en abyme: Films, Paintings and the Web in Underworld

2.2.3.1 The Films: Unterwelt, Cocksucker Blues, and the Zapruder Film

2.2.3.2 The Paintings: Brueghel’s Triumph of Death and Whistler’s Arrangement in Gray and Black

2.2.3.3 The Web: The WWW mirroring DeLillo’s Foregrounding of Interconnectedness in Underworld

3.TURNING WASTE INTO ART: UNDERWORLD’S POLITICS AND AESTHETICS PART II

3.0 Some Preliminary Remarks

3.1 Containment

3.2 Recycling

3.2.1 DeLillo Recycling DeLillo

3.2.2 DeLillo Recycling Other Novelists

4.CONCLUSION: DELILLO’S ARTFUL CONTRADICTIONS OF BEING

Objectives & Themes

This thesis examines Don DeLillo's novel Underworld as a monumental meditation on the status of art and the artist within contemporary late-capitalist society. The primary research question explores whether, and to what extent, the novel’s aesthetic strategies—such as montage, the use of "mise-en-abyme," and the recycling of historical and cultural fragments—allow the artist to maintain critical agency against the totalizing and commercializing forces of the "New World Order" and multinational capital.

• The intersection of Cold War history, technology, and popular paranoia in Underworld.
• The novel's aesthetic framework, specifically the strategies of "aesthetizing the political" and "politicizing the aesthetic."
• An analysis of "artist figures" within the novel, ranging from J. Edgar Hoover and serial killers to graffiti artists and painters.
• The role of "waste" as a central metaphor for death, loss, consumerism, and the potential for artistic transformation.
• The use of "mise-en-abyme" through film, painting, and the World Wide Web to mirror the novel's structure and themes.

Excerpt from the Book

Summary of Chapters

1. INTRODUCTION: This chapter establishes the scholarly context of Don DeLillo’s work, tracing his rise to canonical status and outlining the thematic focus on late capitalism, the postmodern self, and the spectacle of violence.

2. TURNING HISTORY INTO ART: UNDERWORLD’S POLITICS AND AESTHETICS PART I: This section analyzes DeLillo's aesthetic strategies, focusing on the tension between "aesthetizing the political" and "politicizing the aesthetic," and examines various "artist figures" who act as authorial doubles.

3. TURNING WASTE INTO ART: UNDERWORLD’S POLITICS AND AESTHETICS PART II: This chapter investigates the metaphor of waste in the novel, exploring the concepts of "containment" and "recycling" as structural and thematic pillars that mirror the novel's complex historical and cultural synthesis.

4. CONCLUSION: DELILLO’S ARTFUL CONTRADICTIONS OF BEING: The final chapter synthesizes the findings, arguing that DeLillo's novel acts as an "encyclopedia of conflict" that both opposes and embodies the paradoxes of the contemporary era.

Keywords

Don DeLillo, Underworld, Postmodernism, Late Capitalism, Waste, Containment, Recycling, Mise-en-abyme, Paranoia, Cold War, Spectacle, Media, Art and Artist, Montage, Historiography.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the core focus of this thesis?

The thesis explores the political and aesthetic dimensions of Don DeLillo’s novel Underworld, specifically how the work serves as a synthesis of Cold War history and a meditation on the power of art in a postmodern consumer society.

What are the central themes discussed in the work?

The study centers on the status of the artist, the metaphor of waste as a means of managing history and desire, the influence of media technology, and the persistent motif of "everything is connected."

What is the primary research question?

The research asks whether the artist in a late-capitalist society still possesses the capacity to create oppositional art, or if all aesthetic production is inevitably absorbed into the logic of commodity production.

Which scientific methods does the paper employ?

The paper utilizes literary analysis and cultural theory, drawing upon concepts from postmodern thinkers such as Jean Baudrillard, Fredric Jameson, and Walter Benjamin to deconstruct the novel’s narrative structure and its relation to history.

What topics are covered in the main body of the paper?

The main part is divided into two sections: the first analyzes aesthetic strategies, "artist figures" (e.g., J. Edgar Hoover, Lenny Bruce), and the use of "mise-en-abyme" (film, painting); the second focuses on the pervasive theme of waste, its management, and its role as a structural principle.

What are the primary keywords characterizing this work?

The essential terms include Postmodernism, Waste, Containment, Recycling, Montage, Paranoia, and the intersection of art, media, and technology.

How does DeLillo treat the figure of J. Edgar Hoover as an artist?

The author argues that DeLillo frames Hoover’s compulsive filing and surveillance as a form of "novel-in-progress," positioning him as an authorial double who uses data management as a means of constructing a version of historical reality.

What is the significance of the "Zapruder film" and "Unterwelt" in this analysis?

These films function as "mise-en-abyme"—nested representations that mirror the novel's own structure. While the Zapruder film provides an unauthorized reality, the fictional Unterwelt offers artistic authority; together, they symbolize DeLillo's attempt to fuse the two within his own writing.