„Don DeLillo” – książki

Tłumaczenie: Radosław Zubek

Tłumaczenie: Michał Kłobukowski

Bilioner Ross Lockhart jest głównym sponsorem tajnego ośrodka, w którym śmierć staje się procesem doskonale kontrolowalnym, ciała zaś są zabezpieczane do czasu, aż postęp medycyny i technologii pozwoli im na powrót do życia i zdrowia. Ale czy tylko o to chodzi? Świat, stojąc w obliczu terroryzmu, katastrof naturalnych i epidemii, przeczuwa własną zagładę. Niektórzy spośród jego najzamożniejszych mieszkańców próbują zapewnić sobie nieśmiertelność, a przynajmniej szansę odrodzenia w świecie po przejściu kataklizmu. Pewnego dnia do ośrodka przybywa syn Rossa, Jeffrey, by dokonać „nieostatniego pożegnania” ze swoją macochą Artis Martineau, zanim jej ciało zostanie zahibernowane. Stan zdrowia Artis wciąż się pogarsza i tylko takie rozwiązanie wydaje się sensowne. Ross jednak nie potrafi się pogodzić z tymczasową utratą ukochanej kobiety i decyduje się podążyć jej śladem.

An unparalleled work of historical conjecture, ranging imaginatively over huge tracts of the American popular consciousness, Don DeLillo's Libra contains an introduction by the author in Penguin Modern Classics. In this powerful, eerily convincing fictional speculation on the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, Don DeLillo chronicles Lee Harvey Oswald's odyssey from troubled teenager to a man of precarious stability who imagines himself an agent of history. When "history" presents itself in the form of two disgruntled CIA operatives who decide that an unsuccessful attempt on the life of JFK will galvanize the nation against Communism, the scales are irrevocably tipped. Don DeLillo (b.1936) was born and raised in New York City. Americana (1971), his first novel, announced the arrival of a major literary talent, and the novels that followed confirmed his reputation as one of the most distinctive and compelling voices in late-twentieth-century American fiction. DeLillo's comic gifts come to the fore in White Noise (1985), which won the National Book Award, Underworld (1997), hailed by Martin Amis as 'the ascension of a great writer', Cosmopolis (2003), adapted into a film by David Cronenberg, due to be released later this year, and Falling Man (2007), a novel about the aftereffects of the 9/11 terrorist attacks in New York. If you enjoyed Libra, you might like DeLillo's Americana, also available in Penguin Modern Classics. 'Don DeLillo's apocalyptic imagination takes on the assassination of John F. Kennedy... Breathtaking' Newsday

Jeffrey Lockhart has been summoned to The Convergence: a remote and secret compound where death is exquisitely, cryogenically controlled. He is there to say goodbye to his stepmother, Artis, who has chosen to surrender her dying body; preserving it until a future time when biomedical advances and new technologies can return her to a life of transcendent promise. And his healthy father, Ross, might join her. Hypnotic and seductive, Zero K is a visionary novel about the legacies we leave, the nobility of death, and the ultimate worth of 'the mingled astonishments of our time, here, on earth.'

Spadając to książka o 11 września i o dniach, a w końcu latach, które nastąpiły potem. W sposób przejmujący i obrazowy, lecz bez patosu, autor opisuje zdarzenie, które wstrząsnęło Ameryką u progu nowego tysiąclecia i zdefiniowało ją na nowo. Ta historia zaczyna się wśród dymu i zgliszcz, które pozostały z płonących wież. Keith, cudem ocalały w jednej z wież, usiłuje poskładać swój świat na nowo. W pierwszym odruchu wraca do żony, Lianne, którą przedtem opuścił, ona zaś wciąż rozpamiętuje przeszłość, nie mogąc odnaleźć w nim bliskiego jej niegdyś mężczyzny. Obok jest ich małomówny synek Justin, który wystaje w oknie, wypatrując na niebie kolejnych samolotów. Nad ich wspólnym życiem ciąży poczucie straty i żalu, a także przemożna siła historii. Don DeLillo pokazuje, jaki wpływ terrorystyczny atak z 11 września wywarł na jego rodaków, przeobrażając ich emocje, pamięć i sposób odbierania świata. To piękna, poruszająca i oczyszczająca książka.

His first novel, Don DeLillo's Americana passionately articulates the neurotic landscape of contemporary American life through a disintegrating embodiment of the American dream. Prosperous, good-looking and empty inside, 28-year-old advertising executive David Bell appears on the surface to have everything. But he is a man on the brink of losing his sanity. Trapped in a Manhattan office with soulless sycophants as his only company, he makes an abrupt decision to leave New York for America's mid-west. His plan: to film the small-town lives of ordinary people and make contact with the true heart of his homeland. But as Bell puts his films together in his hotel room, he grows increasingly convinced that there is no heart to find. Modern America has become a land that has reached the end of its reel... Don DeLillo (b.1936) was born and raised in New York City. Americana (1971), his first novel, announced the arrival of a major literary talent, and the novels that followed confirmed his reputation as one of the most distinctive and compelling voices in late-twentieth-century American fiction. DeLillo's comic gifts come to the fore in White Noise (1985), which won the National Book Award, Underworld (1997), hailed by Martin Amis as 'the ascension of a great writer', Cosmopolis (2003), adapted into a film by David Cronenberg, due to be released later this year, and Falling Man (2007), a novel about the aftereffects of the 9/11 terrorist attacks in New York. If you enjoyed Americana, you might like DeLillo's Libra, also available in Penguin Modern Classics. 'He's a writer who, once you read him, makes you want to read everything he's done' Martin Amis, Sunday Times 'Witty, clever and incisive ... a marvellously realized plot' Time Out 'Nearly every sentence of Americana rings true ... DeLillo is a man of frightening perception' Joyce Carol Oates

Jack Gladney is the creator and chairman of Hitler studies at the College-on-the-Hill. This is the story of his absurd life; a life that is going well enough, until a chemical spill from a rail car releases an 'Airborne Toxic Event' and Jack is forced to confront his biggest fear ? his own mortality. White Noise is an effortless combination of social satire and metaphysical dilemma in which Don DeLillo exposes our rampant consumerism, media saturation and novelty intellectualism. It captures the particular strangeness of life lived when the fear of death cannot be denied, repressed or obscured and ponders the role of the family in a time when the very meaning of our existence is under threat. 'America's greatest living writer.' - Observer

Now a major new Netflix film from Noah Baumbach, starring Adam Driver and Greta Gerwig How strange it is. We have these deep terrible lingering fears about ourselves and the people we love. Yet we walk around, talk to people, eat and drink. We manage to function. The feelings are deep and real. Shouldn?t they paralyze us? Jack Gladney is the creator and chairman of Hitler studies at the College-on-the-Hill. This is the story of his absurd life; a life that is going well enough, until a chemical spill from a train carriage releases an ?Airborne Toxic Event? and Jack is forced to confront his biggest fear ? his own mortality. White Noise is an effortless combination of social satire and metaphysical dilemma in which Don DeLillo exposes our rampant consumerism, media saturation and novelty intellectualism. It captures the particular strangeness of life lived when the fear of death cannot be denied, repressed or obscured and ponders the role of the family in a time when the very meaning of our existence is under threat. ?America?s greatest living writer.? ? Observer Part of the Picador Collection, a series showcasing the best of modern literature.