SOURCE: “The Romatic Metaphysics of Don DeLillo,” in Contemporary Literature, Vol. XXXVII, No. 2, Summer, 1996, pp. 258–77.

In the following essay, Maltby identifies Romantic qualities of the “visionary moment” in White Noise, The Names, and Libra, comparing those qualities to the critical consensus that characterizes DeLillo's works as quintessentially postmodern writing.

What is the postmodern response to the truth claims traditionally made on behalf of visionary moments? By “visionary moment,” I mean that flash of insight or sudden revelation which critically raises the level of spiritual or self-awareness of a fictional character. It is a mode of cognition typically represented as bypassing rational thought processes and attaining a “higher” or redemptive order of knowledge (gnosis). There are, conceivably, three types of postmodern response which merit attention here.

First, in recognition of the special role literature itself has played in establishing the credibility of visionary moments, postmodern writers might draw on...