The Literature Book

CONTEMPORARY LITERATURE

and the taboos that surround

foreignness and colonialism.

Alternating between first- and

third-person narration and present

and past tense, the novel uses a

spare, poetic prose style.

THE HANDMAID’S TALE

(1985), MARGARET ATWOOD

A dystopian vision of the near future,

The Handmaid’s Tale by Canadian

writer Atwood (see p.327) depicts

an America where the establishment

of a Christian theocracy has led to

the loss of women’s freedoms.

Caste and class become organizing

principles of society, allowing

Atwood to comment on present-day

inequalities. The narrator is Offred,

a “handmaid”—a concubine for

reproductive purposes in an era

of rampant sexually transmitted

diseases. Her master develops

feelings for her and gives her

privileges, as well as access to

some of the regime’s secrets. She

later becomes implicated in a

growing resistance movement. The

power of this highly controversial

work of fiction comes from its

devastating critique of patriarchy

by exaggeration of its features.

LOVE IN THE TIME

OF CHOLERA

(1985), GABRIEL GARCÍA MÁRQUEZ

A tender exploration of love’s

difficulties and ambiguities, Love

in the Time of Cholera by Nobel

Prize-winning Colombian novelist

Márquez (see p.282) deftly navigates

the twists and turns of human

feeling. Two versions of love are

presented, each enshrined in a

male character: one passionate,

and the other pragmatic. The

passionate one, Florentino Ariza,

proposes to his youthful sweetheart

50 years after first declaring his love

and being rejected in favor of

Dr. Juvenal Urbino, the pragmatist.

A central question in the book is,

which kind of love is likelier to

bring happiness? Cholera features

literally in the narrative, but also

serves as an imaginative analogy

for infatuation. Other themes in the

work include acceptance of aging

and the continuation of romantic

love among the elderly, even as

the body grows more infirm.

WHITE NOISE

(1985), DON DELILLO

In his best-selling novel White

Noise, author and playwright Don

DeLillo tells of how the chair of

Hitler Studies at a US university is

forced to confront his own mortality

after a chemical spill creates an

“Airborne Toxic Event.” The book

is a darkly amusing examination

of consumerism, intellectual

pretensions within academia, and

the dominance of the media. It also

examines cohesion, trust, and love

special job; being cured will be

his payoff. The book combines

a futuristic vision with elements

of hard-boiled noir.

THE LOVER

(1984), MARGUERITE DURAS

Set in French Indochina in the

1930s, The Lover draws upon the

real-life experiences of its French

author, Marguerite Duras (1914–96).

It details the intense affair between

a 15-year-old girl from a poor family

and a wealthy Chinese man of 27,

yet beyond this it is also concerned

with female empowerment, the

relationship between mother and

daughter, emerging adolescence,

335

Don DeLillo

Born in New York City in 1936,

Don DeLillo garnered a cult

following with his early works,

entering the mainstream with

White Noise. Growing up in an

Italian Catholic family in the

Bronx, he discovered a thirst

for reading during a summer

job as a parking attendant.

He worked as an advertising

copywriter after graduating in

communications arts in 1958

but, disillusioned with the job,

he quit in 1964 in order to write

fiction. DeLillo’s novels have

been described as postmodern

in tone and focus on the US’s

material excess and empty

culture as recurring themes.

Key works

1985 White Noise (see right)

1988 Libra

1991 Mao II

1997 Underworld

2011 The Angel Esmeralda

... she would not bury herself

alive inside these four walls to

sew her shroud, as native

widows were expected to do.

Love in the Time

of Cholera

Gabriel García Márquez

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