Mao II

MAO II

by Don DeLillo

 

Award: PEN/Faulkner Winner 1992

 

Nomination: Pulitzer Finalist 1992

 

Date Read: April 5 2021

 

Trapped by an unfinished novel and an ambivalent love triangle, reclusive writer Bill Gray finds a way to escape his circumstances and confront his own individuality, shortcomings and the fate he has stumbled into. Through this vehicle, DeLillo explores the legacy of Mao, the violence in the Middle East, the fate of the writer and how it infiltrates the mind of the reader and what, exactly, can serve as a catalyst for change.

 

The unfinished novel Gray has been plugging away at for decades is like a ghost haunting and plaguing him, offering no respite. Gray becomes obsessed with not only the language but the idea that this novel, instead of inspiring the reader, will haunt them just like it has the author. This husk of a novel has become a curse, a little albatross around Gray’s neck. The only option he has is to abandon it but it’s seeped into every nook and cranny of his home. And the man who has attached himself to Gray, Scott, won’t let him forget it.

 

As Gray finds his way through the world – from New York, to Boston, to London, to Paris, to Beirut – he slowly sheds this curse and is able to see the world as it has become. He finds a world that views his profession/art as mere escapism and a pastime, rather than an agent of change. The image of Bill, exhausted, unshaved and bloodied dying identity-less on a ship drives home this point.

 

I appreciate what DeLillo was trying to accomplish with the character Brit, who near the end finds herself in Beirut to capture the violence and political change occurring there, but was too distracted by the idea of a woman having such frank conversations with the radicals she meets there, going so far as to slap one of the boys. I highly doubt such a frank discussion would occur with a female and for a woman to slap a male would be completely out of bounds. 

 

The idea of Mao, not only as a political leader but a writer and propagator of important political ideology, is referenced throughout this short novel. Before he became a leader, he was a writer of poetry and essays. After assuming power, the Chinese people clamored for The Little Red Book to further absorb Mao’s ideas. And this is the point that DeLillo is ultimately trying to make: Authors hold an awesome power in the work they produce. Words and ideas are more the most powerful tools on Earth.

 

Looking Forward: Libra, White Noise

 

Looking Back: Underworld