Considered by many to be one of the greatest postmodern American novels, White Noise by Don DeLillo was published in 1985. The novel follows Jack and Babette Gladney, along with their group of children from previous marriages, as they deal with exposure to an Airborne Toxic Event. The sprawling novel takes on a number of topics, including the celebrity culture of academia, the search for meaning in late capitalism, and fear of death. At the center of the book is Jack and Babette's relationship, as they try to live authentically in a world in which objects and performances have as much meaning as religion and knowledge.
As demonstrated by the book's more comic scenes, the postmodern...
