The Theme Of Crisis In Don DeLillo's Novels

For more than half of a century in his writing career, the American writer Don DeLillo(1936-) has committed to making the writer's spiritual impact on the readers' consciousness, and has sought to endow his writing with a moral force. For him, the significance of literature is not to provide some illusory “comforts”, but rather to predict and depict dangers in human existence, so as to remind people of the problems they are confronting. He fully discloses in his fifteen novels various crises faced by human beings in the postmodern era, and focuses on the future and destiny of mankind. Quite different from postmodern theorists, who would attend to the symptoms of postmodern crises from the levels of theory concerning system, the spirit, and the legitimacy of modernity, DeLillo in his novels presents artistically the contradiction and tension between modern civilization and modern existence from the reality of postmodern living conditions. Postmodern crises in DeLillo's writing are interpreted more as the predicament of living and perplexity of the meaning of existence.In consideration of DeLillo's close concern for man's state of existence, this dissertation conducts a discussion on the postmodern crisis of identity, ecological crisis, and spiritual crisis in his novels; and interprets the writer's exploration of the meaning of existence, the speculation about the future, and the responsibility and compassion in his novels by foregrounding the questions of “Who am I”, “Where am I”, and “Where to go”. Additionally, this dissertation attempts to employ the related postmodern theories in the fields of philosophy, sociology, psychology, literature and culture in the analysis of eight selected novels written by DeLillo, and the aim is to provide a comparatively more accurate and systematic interpretation of the theme of crisis in them, and the revelation of the writer's reflections on the consequences of modernity as well as his concern for human existence.The dissertation consists of three parts: the introduction, the text and the conclusion. The introduction takes a brief look into DeLillo's life and his writing activities, summarizes the present research on him at home and abroad, and explains the significance, methodology, the theoretical framework and the layout of the study. This part highlights DeLillo's great achievements in literature, his strong sense of responsibility as a writer, and his deep concern for the crises in human survival as revealed in his works.The second part includes four chapters. Chapter One is entitled “DeLillo and the Postmodern Crisis in the Western World”. Taking modernity and postmodern theories as the logical start and theoretical basis, it aims to sort out the sequence of Western postmodern crises. On the basis of the depictions of postmodern crisis by such theorists as Jurgen Habermas, Jean Francois Lyotard, Daniel Bell, Pitirim A. Sorokin, and Anthony Giddens, a definition of the concept of “crisis” was concluded, which displays that the negative consequences of modernity is the cause of the postmodern crisis; thus an analytic framework of crisis theory was constructed by combining the characteristics of the theme of crisis in DeLillo's novels and the three main consequences of modernity--the consequences of modernity's deviation from its cultural tradition, of a world governed by science and technology, and then of the influence of globalization.Chapter Two, entitled “Who Am I: Crisis of Identity in Reality and Illusion”, discusses the crisis of self-identity and the crisis of social identity caused by the loss of subjectivity due to the complicity of the postmodern society, culture, politics and ideology in the context of globalization, with contemporary theory of identity and relative cultural theories as a guide and DeLillo's three novels, Libra, Mao II and Cosmopolis, as the target texts. The discussion of Libra deals with the protagonist Oswald's assassination of the US President John F. Kennedy, driven by an invisible force after the disillusionment of his ideal of identity, which reveals postmodern man's desire to search for identity recognition and to construct self-identity with subjectivity in the postmodern illusion. The analysis of Mao II reveals human beings' agonies and struggles in postmodern cultural crisis and the global value crisis of identity, from the three levels of individual authors' resistance to public opinion “authority”, which refers to mass culture and terror narrative, the self-loss of the individuals in the mass indulgence in idolatry due to authoritarian conformity, and the violence caused by and suffered by the terrorist groups and terrorist individuals under the authoritarian conformity of Western ideology and cultural values. In analyzing Cosmopolis, the dissertation contends that the novel, through the description of the existence perplexity of the people in postmodern consumer society pervaded with an aura of materialism and utilitarianism, reveals the crisis of self-identity characteristic of the want of a sense of meaning, value and orientation after the loss of traditional capitalist spirit characteristics of thrift, diligence, and self-discipline. The study proves that through coded references to reality, DeLillo wishes for people to get a subjective identity, and to achieve individual freedom and liberation in a true sense.The third chapter, entitled “Where Am I: Ecological Crisis in Nature and Society”, explores the environmental ecological crisis and the spiritual ecological crisis of contemporary human beings from the two perspectives of the natural ecological environment and social ecological environment with the ecological theories at home and abroad as the theoretical reference. And “the social ecology” here refers to political ecology and ecology of humanity in a broader sense. The chapter selects White Noise and Underworld as research texts to discuss the difficult living conditions of contemporary human beings threatened by natural environmental pollution, ecological disasters, political contests, nuclear threats and global terror, etc., and discloses human beings' exploration and humiliation and oppression to Nature and “the others” with the ideology of “anthropocentrism”. The study reveals that by disclosing crises and predicting disasters, DeLillo attempts to remind people of the necessity of peaceful co-existence among nature, society and human beings. DeLillo finally rests his hope on inflexible faith and divine powers, which coincides with the ideas of reverence for life, re-enchantment of the world and ecological holism advocated by contemporary ecologists and philosophers.In Chapter Four, which is entitled “Where to Go: Spiritual Crisis in Trauma and Perplexity”, the focus is on the three novels of The Body Artist, Falling Man, and Point Omega written by DeLillo after the turn of the millennium. Trauma theory and postmodern crisis theory are applied in this chapter to explore the experiences of trauma, and self-redemption after “loss” as presented in the novels. In The Body Artist, the author aims to pass on his idea of redemption through art in the description of the artist Laura's trauma psychology and her self-healing process after the death of her husband. The study of Falling Man reveals that DeLillo calls people's attention to the concern for their faith crisis and ethical crisis by bringing to light the causes of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, which caused individual and national traumas. The study of Point Omega shows that the author, through describing Elster, a former war analyst, who entered the desert for the case of self-healing from the trauma of being involved in Iraq War, makes clear the fact that the United States acted as both the victim and perpetrator of violence in the two disasters of the 9/11 terrorist attacks and Iraq War, which offers his concern for human trauma from two different perspectives. The study exhibits that DeLillo's deep worry and concern about the severe crises brought by the progress of civilization up till now are expressed by his compassion for the fragility of human life, his reflections on the national cultural trauma, his lamentations over the disasters caused by human greed, his recognition of the limitations of human consciousness, his meditations upon the existence of humans as well as that of the universe, and his inquiry into the ultimate fate of mankind as reflected in his novels. In his view, humans are at the “Omega Point” at the present time, and the self-redemption of human beings can only be achieved by pondering the ultimate meanings of human existence.The conclusion is a comment and evaluation on DeLillo's creative work based on the above study from three different perspectives. This part endeavors to shed light on DeLillo's values in contemporary American literature on the part of his solicitude for the crises existing in human existence, his reflections on human morality as well as his dedications to his responsibility as a writer. While portraying all kinds of crises including crisis of identity, ecological crisis and spiritual crisis in his novels, De Lillo has conveyed his concern for postmodern existence and expressed his idea of redemption in appealing to the return and recuperation of people's faith and ethic. He has spared no effort to make his contributions as a writer in influencing people's consciousness and thus taking part in the process of human civilization. However, his limitations have narrowed his horizon to the scope of Western discourse. Disappointed in Western politics, society and culture, he has resorted to no other way than religious meditations and mysterious powers for a way out of various postmodern crises. It may well be that only by escaping from egocentrism and uniting efforts for a community of shared future for mankind can human beings find a way of redemption out of present dilemma.