Surrealpolitik: Mao II

Quick Summary

This novel gets into the whole thing about the sort of ideological competition between novelists and terrorists (and a bit about photographers' flashes and those of bombs), e.g., novelists and terrorists are both outsiders trying to influence events, but terrorists are dominating the social and media narratives more effectively and their gains are the novelists' losses. DeLillo is supposed to be Mr Paranoid according to so many reviewers, but I personally fail to see much in the way of paranoia here. If anything, the writer-protagonist Bill Gray, despite being a hermit, is insufficiently fearful of people being out to get him even though he's been warned that he'll probably be killed. It also bears mentioning that this book, written in 1991, has several ominous mentions of the World Trade Center towers. But ultimately, as far as having anything to say about terrorism, the novel is pure banality. We have a standard issue Arab terrorist behind the plot, his only twist being that he's a bit of a Maoist. Other than that: desperate, embittered, resentful, and despises Western values. It doesn't get more boring than this. But the novel as a whole is a good read with numerous delights, although DeLillo reaches for the pithy more frequently than I find comfortable.

Last updated: April 8, 2022