tif. This is what Jung called "the puer aeternus" (or the female "puella")---the eternal youth...who never ages...who never dies...to whom death is nothing. In psychology, this idea is linked closely with that of narcissism, which is considered prevalent in society today. Just look at all the things we do to avoid the appearance of aging! Jack Gladney is, at best, an unlikely Hero, I think. The extreme superficiality of his life is astounding. Everything is meant to *seem* significant...Hitler studies, the robes and sunglasses, the most photographed barn in America. Like so much of what we see and hear nowadays...what it's about is *sounding* like it's about something important. Everything is sense impression. Never mind what a word really means...if it *sounds* solid and strong, then that's reason enough to use it. In this way we escape from nature. We create lives that "protect" us from the things that are "out there" somewhere. "I'm not just a college professor," says Jack. "I'm the head of a department. I don't see myself fleeing an airborne toxic event. That's for people who live in mobile homes out in the scrubby parts of the country, where the fish hatcheries are." Michael Valdez Moses addresses this issue in his essay "Lust Removed From Nature" (in Frank Lentricchia's NEW ESSAYS ON WHITE NOISE). Following Heidegger (another influence on DeLillo), Valdez Moses discusses the way technology is changing the inner experience of human beings. And in WHITE NOISE DeLillo shows us how this is done. Waves and radiation. Television serves as kind of new collective unconscious, creating a new inner frame of reference. Consider this line from William Gibson's NEUROMANCER: "The sky above the port was the color of television, tuned to a dead channel." What color? Jack Gladney says at one point, "His skin was a color that I want to call flesh-toned." Stephie murmurs, "Toyota Celica," in her sleep. The TV is now a member of the family. We are mo...
