num_pages: 538
description: Winner of the National Book Award in 1985, White Noise is the story of Jack and Babette and their children from their six or so various marriages. They live in a college town where Jack is Professor of Hitler Studies (and conceals the fact that he does not speak a word of German), and Babette teaches posture and volunteers by reading from the tabloids to a group of elderly shut-ins. They are happy enough until a deadly toxic accident and Babette's addiction to an experimental drug make Jake question everything.White Noise is considered a postmodern classic and its unfolding of themes of consumerism, family and divorce, and technology as a deadly threat have attracted the attention of literary scholars since its publication. This Viking Critical Library edition, prepared by scholar Mark Osteen, is the only edition of White Noise that contains the entire text along with an extensive critical apparatus, including a critical introduction, selected essays on the author, the work and its themes, reviews, a chronology of DeLillo's life and work, a list of discussion topics, and a selected bibliography.
language: English
title: White Noise: Text and Criticism
titlecomplete: White Noise: Text and Criticism (Viking Critical Library)
characters: Tweedy Browner, Babette Gladney, Dana Breedlove, Jack Gladney
genres: 20th Century, American, Literary Fiction, Novels, Science Fiction, Literature, Classics, The United States Of America, Fiction, Contemporary
ratings_count: 110957
awards: awardedAt: 473414400000
name: National Book Award
category: Fiction, awardedAt: 473414400000
name: National Book Critics Circle Award
category: Fiction
publisher: Penguin Books