Underworld's American Archive

Don DeLillo’s Underworld is a dense and sprawling novel that defies easy summation. A masterpiece of contemporary prose fiction, it rewards careful consideration. In this course we will explore the novel in depth, and ask what strategies it uses to outline the chaotic contours of the second half of the twentieth century in America. What versions of American history are on offer here, and how can we use them to glean insight into our present lives? The novel works like a capacious wonder cabinet, providing us with a rich archive of modern American life. We will also explore this archive and ask what objects, emblems, and events DeLillo collects to tell the story of America’s recent past. We will consider the novel alongside films by Sergei Eisenstein, and critical and theoretical work by writers such as Jane Bennett, Robert Smithson, Walter Benjamin, and Karl Marx.