DeLillo - Krasny Cosmopolis Publication Interview

DeLillo Krasny Cosmopolis Publication Interview

Following are Abstracts of the 7 Parts of the Interview

One

DeLillo discusses the conjunction of technology and capital that has happened. Eric Packer is not a usual Wall Street Financier as he knows several language, reads poetry. Ulysses is brought up and DeLillo says that the comparison would be made, but he wanted the novel to take place in one day. Because of tech and capital everything is speeded up, so everything that happens in this one day is speeded up. He mentions implosion. Packer notices the obsoleteness of technology, the ATM machine, a mechanism. He says Packer lives in the future, the screen he follows himself on. 

No mention of the obsoleteness of Didi, her arms. Age, body, Death

Me: Packer noticing obsoleteness in people, technology, machines, etc is because he is noticing DEATH all day.

Two

Hasn’t seen his driver. Three/fourths of the way begins to notice people. Haircut at a particular place in Hell’s Kitchen W 47^th St. Journey into Eric’s life and his father’s life. First truly human encounter. Valpariso odyssey also, theme of writers. Concentrate on a different kind of sentence, write shorter sentences, avoid analogies, harden sense of discipline. Underworld wanted to open up the sentence, absorb more. A suitable style for Packer, hard edged, decisive, this style worked for this book. Studied money, tech (?) outset ignorant then studied. Concerned to be precise and accurate.

Three

White noise deja vue cause: nature of time 2 halves of brain.  Time is a mystery explore)body artist – may well be that time exists simultaneously, a question of the sake of our self protection to reformulate nature of time (tuttle BA moves forward and backward in time)deja vue connected with idea time exists in one continuum, able to access this. Way in which we construct our own universe, universe itself totally different from our perception of it, seems a fact that it exists in a way that is totally alien for humans to survive in it. World will end –a linkage from the future to us in his discussion of time. We create the universe.

Global capitalism protest Vija discusses it as protestors are pissing on it; nature of the future. People re protesting against the wave of the future, tech genius will leave people behind. We pretend not to see the suffering our tech advnces are causing.

Mean in name of the character  - do it intentionally. 

Four

Name Benno Levin is the pen name of character in the book. This character would use name of European anarchist,revolutionary of early 20^th century  is who he is named after. (beginning of 4)

Paranoia, post modern

Paranoia comes out of the culture rather than my consciouness Libra makes the prevalence of paranoia around me. A conspiracy to assassinate the president, conspiracy in the novel is small not massive. Do not sense it around me now, moved into internet, not as noticeable as it used to be.

Paranoia misused, the institution itself began to be weakened, moved to darker corners of the culture and out. Nostalgia. JFK assassination. Oswald has disappeared from the discourse.DeLillo and Oswald lived close 13 and 16 yrs old.  

Five
Connection to a place.Imp of your writing Underworld, the world of New York, connected to a place – wants to know where people are when they are doing what they are doing

Oswald played hooky and went to the Bronx zoo. Odd to know they both did it. Odd that he was in this half Jesish and half Italisn neighborhood. What was he doing there.

Repeated the Immigrant experience of my parents – touching close living then touching became untouchable – form of protection, avoid hostility. Touching became touchy.

Six

Touching opinion connect between money and libido, occurs happenstance in novel, men with more money, position to have more sex. Not sure there’s a drive. Sex, no touch – body force/counterforce. Eric powerful. Sense of accelerated time moving us towards sense of immortality. Asymmetrical prostate, popped in his head but not saying more.Think he is truly interesting and changes forcefully towards the end of the book.

Try not to think in terms of sympathy, partial redemption but don’t like to think that way. Eric changes. Tech an enormous force in our lives, what kind of force in our consciousness? Does it drive us in ways we are not quite aware of – tech exists to be applied, tech has a kind of will, drive towards being realized in 3 D. If tech feasible, it will be realized or is it the other way around

Why should it not be part of our fiction? Spiritual? Transcendence? Question is what kind of transcendence? American. What force there is in tech, is it force dragging us towards Bagdad? (Bethlehem?) Is this force driving us not to just increase. Is tech driving us.(Object pulling us?)

This administration a cold war administration. Can identify an enemy. Wear uniforms, an identifiable enemy, we have tech to reduce its potent danger.

Seven

9-11 sense is to build a shield around us. fear – disparity between administration. Itself heading to increase isolationism.

Don’t need the world the way we used to, but in NY don’t feel it.

America itself trying to keep world out.

9-11 fact that the 2 towers came down

Great work of art retracted.