SOURCE: “Romanticism and the Postmodern Novel: Three Scenes from Don DeLillo's White Noise,” in English Language Notes, Vol. XXV, No. 1, September, 1997, pp. 38–48.

In the following essay, Caton posits that DeLillo's characterization of Jack Gladney in White Noise epitomizes Romantic sensibilities despite the postmodern tenor of the novel’s themes.

A critical exploration of romanticism in Don DeLillo’s eighth novel White Noise may initially seem misguided or odd.¹ And yet, some of the values and topics commonly associated with popular notions of romanticism, like sympathy, unity, authenticity, and an interest in the “unknown,” do emerge in this supposedly postmodern novel. They emerge not from overarching themes but rather from the common thoughts and desires associated with the novel’s viewpoint character, Jack Gladney. By judging such characterization as romantic, that is, supportive of these broad transhistorical values, I find a deeply qualified postmodernism within White Noise.

Granted, in...