Don DeLillo facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Don DeLillo
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DeLillo in 1988
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| Born | Donald Richard DeLillo November 20, 1936 New York City, U.S. |
| Occupation | Novelist |
| Education | Fordham University (BA) |
| Period | 1960–present |
| Literary movement | Postmodernism |
| Notable works | The Names (1982) White Noise (1985) Libra (1988) Mao II (1991) Underworld (1997) The Angel Esmeralda (2011) |
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Donald Richard DeLillo (born November 20, 1936) is a famous American writer. He writes novels, short stories, plays, and essays. His books often explore big ideas about modern life. He writes about things like how people buy things, nuclear war, how we use language, art, TV, and the digital world. He also writes about math, politics, money, and sports.
DeLillo became very well-known in 1985 when his book White Noise came out. It won the National Book Award. Later, in 1988, he wrote Libra, a novel about the killing of President John F. Kennedy. He won the PEN/Faulkner Award for Mao II, a book about terrorism and how the media looks at writers' lives. He also won the William Dean Howells Medal for Underworld. This historical novel covers a long time, from the start of the Cold War to the birth of the internet.
DeLillo has won many other awards. These include the 1999 Jerusalem Prize and the 2013 Library of Congress Prize for American Fiction. He says his main themes are "living in dangerous times" and "the inner life of the culture." He believes writers should challenge powerful systems like big companies and governments.
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Don DeLillo's Early Life and Inspirations
Don DeLillo was born in New York City on November 20, 1936. He grew up in a working-class Italian-American family in the Bronx. His family had roots in Molise, Italy. He remembers always being outside as a child. He would pretend to be a baseball announcer for hours. There were eleven people in his small house, but he didn't mind. His family spoke both English and Italian.
As a teenager, DeLillo didn't care much for writing. But then he got a summer job parking cars. He spent many hours waiting and watching vehicles. This led him to start reading a lot. He said his 20s and early 30s were a "golden age" for reading. Writers like James Joyce, William Faulkner, and Ernest Hemingway inspired him. Hemingway especially influenced his first attempts at writing.
Besides books, DeLillo was also inspired by jazz music. He liked artists such as Ornette Coleman and John Coltrane. Postwar movies also influenced him. He mentioned directors like Michelangelo Antonioni and Jean-Luc Godard. He felt that European movies helped him become a writer. DeLillo also credits his parents for letting him follow his dream of writing.
After high school and college, DeLillo worked in advertising for five years. He wrote ads for companies like Sears. He said he was just getting good at it when he left in 1964. He published his first short story in 1960. He started working on his first novel in 1966. He quit his job simply because he "didn't want to work anymore." He later wished he had started writing novels earlier. But he felt he wasn't ready until later.
DeLillo's Novels: A Look at His Work
Books from the 1970s
The 1970s were a very busy time for DeLillo. He wrote and published six novels between 1971 and 1978. After leaving advertising in 1964, he moved into a small apartment. He started working on his first novel, Americana. He lived a very simple life back then. He said he was "ignoring the movements of the time."
Americana took four years to write. It was published in 1971 and got some good reviews. The book was about a TV programmer who travels to find meaning. DeLillo later said he was surprised it was published. He felt it was "overdone and shaggy." But two young editors saw something special in it.
After Americana, he quickly wrote more books. These included End Zone (1972), a comedy about football and nuclear war. Then came Great Jones Street (1973), a satire about rock and roll. DeLillo later thought this one could have been better. In 1975, he married Barbara Bennett.
His fourth novel, Ratner's Star (1976), took two years to write. It was compared to the works of Thomas Pynchon. This book is about a 14-year-old math genius. He joins scientists trying to understand an alien message. DeLillo said it was one of his hardest books to write. It was also his personal favorite.
He ended the decade with two shorter books. Players (1977) was about the close language between people living together. Running Dog (1978) was a thriller. DeLillo felt Running Dog showed how people wanted to own things. But then they didn't care about them after getting them.
In 1978, DeLillo received a Guggenheim Fellowship. He used it to travel around the Middle East. He then settled in Greece. There, he wrote his next novels, Amazons and The Names. He later said he wished he had slowed down more in the 1970s. He felt he wasn't doing "utterly serious work" back then.
Books from the 1980s
The 1980s started with a different kind of book for DeLillo. Amazons was a funny story. It was a fake memoir about the first woman to play in the National Hockey League. DeLillo used a fake name, Cleo Birdwell, for this book. He later asked publishers not to list it as his work.
While living in Greece, he spent three years writing The Names (1982). More and more critics liked his work. But he was still not widely known. In 1982, he gave his first big interview. Before that, he had avoided talking to the media.
His eighth novel, White Noise (1985), was a big success. It made him a famous and respected writer. It won the National Book Award for Fiction. This book helped him become a key writer in modern literature. When he accepted the award, he kept it short. He simply said, "I'm sorry I couldn't be here tonight, but I thank you all for coming."
White Noise influenced many other writers. These include David Foster Wallace and Jonathan Franzen. DeLillo said the title "White Noise" was a good choice. He felt a title becomes a lasting part of a book.
After White Noise, he wrote Libra (1988). This book imagined the life of Lee Harvey Oswald. Oswald was the person accused of killing John F. Kennedy in 1963. DeLillo did a lot of research for this book. Libra became a worldwide bestseller. It was also a finalist for the National Book Award.
The novel caused strong reactions. Some praised DeLillo's view of the Kennedy assassination. Others strongly disagreed. One critic called it "an act of literary vandalism." DeLillo often talked about how important the Kennedy assassination was. He felt it marked the real start of the 1960s. He saw it as the beginning of many problems in America.
Books from the 1990s
DeLillo's next novel, Mao II (1991), showed his worries. He thought about the role of writers in a world full of media and terrorism. This book was influenced by events like the threats against writer Salman Rushdie. It also looked at how the media invaded the life of writer J. D. Salinger. Mao II received great praise. It won a PEN/Faulkner Award.
After Mao II, DeLillo worked quietly for several years. He was writing and researching his 11th novel. He published only a couple of short stories during this time.
In 1997, DeLillo released his long-awaited novel, Underworld. This was an epic story about the Cold War. Many people called it a masterpiece. Writer Martin Amis said it showed DeLillo was a "great writer."
Underworld became DeLillo's most praised novel. It was very popular and was nominated for many awards. These included the National Book Award and the Pulitzer Prize. It won the American Book Award and the Jerusalem Prize. DeLillo was surprised by its success. He wondered who would be interested in an 800-page book with over 100 characters. Rereading it later, he wondered if he could still write such a big and detailed book.
Books from the 2000s
After Underworld, DeLillo's novels became shorter. Critics sometimes found them less grand than his earlier works. DeLillo explained that each book tells him what it wants to be. He said he would write a longer novel if the story called for it. He also mentioned reading shorter, important European novels.
After the big success of Underworld, DeLillo stepped away from the public eye. He wrote his 12th novel, The Body Artist, published in 2001. This book explored themes DeLillo often uses. It looked at performance art and private lives. But its style was very different from Underworld. It received mixed reviews.
In 2003, DeLillo published Cosmopolis. This book was a modern take on James Joyce's Ulysses. It was set in New York during the dot-com bubble crash. Many critics did not like it at first. Some famous writers, like John Updike, disliked its style. DeLillo said he didn't read reviews. He thought the mixed reaction might be linked to the 9/11 attacks. He had almost finished the book when they happened. Later, people started to see the novel as very smart. It focused on problems in the financial system.
In 2004, DeLillo's writings were bought by the Harry Ransom Center at the University of Texas at Austin. He donated his papers because he ran out of space. He also wanted to organize them for his family.
His last novel of the decade was Falling Man, published in 2007. This book was about how the 9/11 terrorist attacks affected one family. DeLillo said he didn't want to write about 9/11 at first. But he started working on it after the 2004 election.
Critics eagerly awaited Falling Man. They felt DeLillo was the right writer to tackle 9/11. But the book received mixed reviews. It didn't win any major awards. DeLillo wasn't worried. He said he preferred to be "in the corner of a room, observing."
In 2009, it was announced that director David Cronenberg would make a movie of Cosmopolis. The film came out in 2012. It was the first direct movie adaptation of a DeLillo novel. DeLillo also made a surprise appearance at an event in 2009. He supported Chinese writer Liu Xiaobo, who was in prison.
Books from the 2010s
DeLillo's 15th novel, Point Omega, came out in February 2010. It was his shortest novel. DeLillo said it explored the idea that human consciousness might be reaching its limit. He felt it was like a companion to The Body Artist. Reviews were mixed. Some liked its new style, while others found it too short. The book was on The New York Times Best Seller list for one week.
In an interview, DeLillo said he was open to writing another long novel. He also said he had no interest in writing a memoir. In 2010, he received two more important awards. These were the St. Louis Literary Award and the PEN/Saul Bellow Award for Achievement in American Fiction.
His first collection of short stories, The Angel Esmeralda: Nine Stories, was published in November 2011. It included stories from 1979 to 2011. It received good reviews and was a finalist for several awards.
DeLillo received the 2012 Carl Sandburg Literary Award. This award honors authors who have made great contributions to literature. In 2013, he received the first Library of Congress Prize for American Fiction. This prize honors American writers whose work is original and shows mastery of their art. DeLillo said the award was a tribute to his parents. They came to America and faced a new language and culture.
In 2012, DeLillo said he was working on a new novel. It would be his 16th. He said the main character watches many old videos of a disaster. In 2015, his publishers announced the novel, Zero K, would be out in May 2016.
In November 2015, DeLillo received the Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters. This was at the National Book Awards. He spoke about his love for reading. In February 2016, he was honored at a conference in Paris. In 2018, he said he was working on his 17th novel. It would be set three years in the future. He wanted to imagine what could be fixed after things were broken.
Books from the 2020s
DeLillo's 17th novel, The Silence, was published in October 2020. In 2021, a producer bought the rights to make it into a movie.
The first collection of DeLillo's works by the Library of America came out in October 2022. It included three of his major novels from the 1980s. These were The Names, White Noise, and Libra. It also had two essays. DeLillo is one of only a few living authors to have his works collected by the Library of America.
Don DeLillo lives near New York City in Bronxville. He lives there with his wife, Barbara Bennett.
DeLillo's Plays
Since 1979, DeLillo has also written plays. He has written five major plays. These include The Day Room (1986) and Valparaiso (1999). His most recent plays are Love Lies Bleeding (2006) and The Word For Snow (2007). Some of his novels, like Libra, have also been made into plays.
DeLillo feels his plays are not influenced by the same writers as his novels. He isn't sure who influenced him as a playwright.
Awards and Honors for Don DeLillo
Don DeLillo has received many awards for his writing. Here are some of them:
- 1979 – Guggenheim Fellowship
- 1985 – National Book Award for Fiction for White Noise
- 1989 – Irish Times, Aer Lingus International Fiction Prize for Libra
- 1992 – PEN/Faulkner Award for Mao II
- 1998 – American Book Award for Underworld
- 1999 – Jerusalem Prize
- 2000 – William Dean Howells Medal for Underworld
- 2010 – St. Louis Literary Award
- 2010 – PEN/Saul Bellow Award for Achievement in American Fiction
- 2012 – Carl Sandburg Literary Award
- 2013 – Library of Congress Prize for American Fiction
- 2015 – National Book Foundation Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters
See also
In Spanish: Don DeLillo para niños
