BOOKS
485
remote from the commonplace emotions of jealou sy, love, self–
consciousness, disappoin tment, pleasure and guilt to be interesting.
No doubt DeLillo's purpose is to demonstrate that our brutal capitalist
society has denied us even the memory of these emotions. The trouble
is that his rude, unpleasant characters are
too
convincing; possessing
none of the qualities that imbue life with dramatic significance or
moral value, they leave the reader indifferent
to
their fate. DeLillo's
novels reminded me of an admonitory letter Henry James wrote
to
the
French novelist Paul Bourget about his work: "In a word, all this is far
from being life as I feel it, as I see it, as I know it, as I wish to know it."
JAMES ATLAS
You'd be better off
reading
the Guardian
.Amer1o&'s
l&rgest
1ndependent
rad1oa.l
nswapaper
18
packed
tIJll
of
in!orma.t1on
each
week
o~
freedom
ftghters
at
home
and
&round
the
world-women's struggles,
the
Blaolt movement,
1
labor, oommun11iV
ftghtB,
liberatiOn struggles
In Mr1o&,
Asia
and
Latin
.Amer1o&.
Plus
tIlm
and
book
rev18ws.
And
1no181ve
pollt1oal
oommentary
and
a.naJys18.
8abHrIbe
todq-
It'••
~~
o
Bend
me
a
6-week
tr1&l
sub
for
'1.00
o
Bend
me a
25-week
sub
for
110.00
o
Bend
me a year's
sub
for
117.00
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Address
Ci1iV/ Btate
Zip ______________
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to: the
~
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