LIVING IN A SIMULACRUM: HOW TV AND THE SUPERMARKET REDEFINES REALITY IN DON DELILLO'S 'WHITE NOISE'

Authors

  • Ahmad Ghashmari Kent State University

Keywords:

Posmodernism, Don Delillo, 20th Century American Fiction, Simulacrum

Abstract

This paper examines the impact of simulation, hyperreality, and consumerism on Don Delillo's novel White Noise. It discusses how the novel pictures technology and mass media as an empire of signs and codes that erase or implode meaning. TV, radio reports and tidbits, and medical imaging devices are intertwined with many aspects of people's lives in this late capitalist culture. Futhermore, the paper will shed some light on the issue of hyperreality which is generated by simulations. We will see how this new type of reality becomes more real than reality itself. Then, the influence of the supermarket and the emergence of consumer culture will be discussed. We will see how production and consumption have gained a new different meaning in this new "superficial" society and how it reshapes people's undestanding and interaction with reality.

Author Biography

Ahmad Ghashmari, Kent State University

PhD candidate, Kent State University

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How to Cite

Ghashmari, A. (2014). LIVING IN A SIMULACRUM: HOW TV AND THE SUPERMARKET REDEFINES REALITY IN DON DELILLO’S ’WHITE NOISE’. 452ºF. Revista De Teoría De La Literatura Y Literatura Comparada, (3), 171–185. Retrieved from https://revistes.ub.edu/index.php/452f/article/view/10808

Issue

No. 3 (2010): Cultural Studies and Comparative Literature

Section

Miscellaneous

License

All contents published in the journal are protected under a Creative Commons BY-NC-ND license. This corresponds to legislation within Spain, and does not allow commercial use of the texts. It is not possible to modify the contents either.

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Comparative Literature magazine 452ºF [ISSN 2013-3294] is a publishing project coordinated by Asociación Cultural 452ºF, and developed by its Editorial board.



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