Fetishism and Form: Advertising and Ironic Distance in Don DeLillo’s White Noise

This essay uses the historical framework of late twentieth-century advertising to understand issues of characterization in Don DeLillo’s novel White Noise. Given DeLillo’s prior career as a copywriter for Ogilvy & Mather, as well as a large body of scholarship that analyzes his novels in relatio...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Adam Szetela
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: European Association for American Studies 2018-06-01
Series:European Journal of American Studies
Subjects:
Online Access:https://journals.openedition.org/ejas/12950
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1841558216321794048
author Adam Szetela
author_facet Adam Szetela
author_sort Adam Szetela
collection DOAJ
description This essay uses the historical framework of late twentieth-century advertising to understand issues of characterization in Don DeLillo’s novel White Noise. Given DeLillo’s prior career as a copywriter for Ogilvy & Mather, as well as a large body of scholarship that analyzes his novels in relationship to issues of political economy and American culture, this essay seeks to not only deepen an understanding of the historical issues that surround DeLillo’s work, but also the political implications of his writing. What is at stake in this project is the treatment of White Noise not only as a realistic “view of life in contemporary America” on par with Jean Baudrillard’s America (Wilcox 3246), but as a rebuke of the commodity fetishism central to the capitalist mode of production.
format Article
id doaj-art-dcc0ebd449f34e9e8f36efa870423652
institution Kabale University
issn 1991-9336
language English
publishDate 2018-06-01
publisher European Association for American Studies
record_format Article
series European Journal of American Studies
spelling doaj-art-dcc0ebd449f34e9e8f36efa8704236522025-01-06T09:09:25ZengEuropean Association for American StudiesEuropean Journal of American Studies1991-93362018-06-0113210.4000/ejas.12950Fetishism and Form: Advertising and Ironic Distance in Don DeLillo’s White NoiseAdam SzetelaThis essay uses the historical framework of late twentieth-century advertising to understand issues of characterization in Don DeLillo’s novel White Noise. Given DeLillo’s prior career as a copywriter for Ogilvy & Mather, as well as a large body of scholarship that analyzes his novels in relationship to issues of political economy and American culture, this essay seeks to not only deepen an understanding of the historical issues that surround DeLillo’s work, but also the political implications of his writing. What is at stake in this project is the treatment of White Noise not only as a realistic “view of life in contemporary America” on par with Jean Baudrillard’s America (Wilcox 3246), but as a rebuke of the commodity fetishism central to the capitalist mode of production.https://journals.openedition.org/ejas/12950identityindividualityadvertisingcapitalismKeywords: Don DeLilloconsumption
spellingShingle Adam Szetela
Fetishism and Form: Advertising and Ironic Distance in Don DeLillo’s White Noise
European Journal of American Studies
identity
individuality
advertising
capitalism
Keywords: Don DeLillo
consumption
title Fetishism and Form: Advertising and Ironic Distance in Don DeLillo’s White Noise
title_full Fetishism and Form: Advertising and Ironic Distance in Don DeLillo’s White Noise
title_fullStr Fetishism and Form: Advertising and Ironic Distance in Don DeLillo’s White Noise
title_full_unstemmed Fetishism and Form: Advertising and Ironic Distance in Don DeLillo’s White Noise
title_short Fetishism and Form: Advertising and Ironic Distance in Don DeLillo’s White Noise
title_sort fetishism and form advertising and ironic distance in don delillo s white noise
topic identity
individuality
advertising
capitalism
Keywords: Don DeLillo
consumption
url https://journals.openedition.org/ejas/12950
work_keys_str_mv AT adamszetela fetishismandformadvertisingandironicdistanceindondelilloswhitenoise