SOURCE: “Afterthoughts on Don DeLillo's Underworld,” in Raritan, Vol. 17, No. 4, Spring, 1998, pp. 48–71.

In the following review, Tanner faults DeLillo for neglecting the aesthetics of narrative art in favor of those of sensationalistic journalism in Underworld.

“The true underground is where the power flows. That’s the best-kept secret of our time. …The presidents and prime ministers are the ones who make the underground deals and speak the true underground idiom. The corporations. The military. The banks. This is the underground network. This is where it happens. Power flows under the surface, far beneath the level you and I live on. This is where the laws are broken, way down under, far beneath the speed freaks and cutters of smack.”

—Great Jones Street

“All plots tend to move deathward. This is the nature of plots. Political plots, terrorist plots, lovers’ plots, narrative plots, plots that are part of children...