Mao II by Don DeLillo

[Red Terror]

In Mao II the central character, reclusive writer Bill Gray, gives up working on the failed novel he has been working on for many years because of his frustration over how the novel, as a medium, has been high-jacked by the political terrorism. He summons a photographer to his secret hideaway to finally unveil himself to the world, to come aboveground again and abandon his reclusive lifestyle. During the photographic session Gray laments that in the past he naively believed he, as a novelist, could "make raids on human consciousness". But now-a-days only bomb makers and gunmen can "make raids on human consciousness". The novelist has been high-jacked by these madmen. Writers can no longer alter the life of the culture. His aesthetic dignity is sincere.

27:55 minutes into this documentary we have the scene of Bill Gray and the photographer.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wdHlm8oKEpE

[Red Terror]

If anyone reads Mao II, these scenes will help you make sense of the novel. It aided me.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6GejfMmjCFo

[YesNo]

What does it mean to make a raid on human consciousness?

[Red Terror]

What does it mean to make a raid on human consciousness?

It means to write a novel that will strike a chord with people -- to shake them up and drop a bucket of cold water on their heads. Bill Gray says that Samuel Beckett was the last writer to do this.

[Red Terror]

What does it mean to make a raid on human consciousness?

In my opinion writers like Tom Paine (Common Sense), Harriet Beecher Stowe (Uncle Tom's Cabin) and Nikolai Chernyshevsky (What is to be Done?) who galvanized public opinion and initiated major movements with their works are the kind of writers that "make raids on human consciousness". These are just off the top of my head. There are others too.

Anyway, in Mao II DeLillo pretty much captured the mood we are in now, our post-911 world and all the trauma of modern day terrorists both foreign and domestic.

[Red Terror]

Passages from Mao II

“The novel used to feed our search for meaning. Quoting Bill. It was the great secular transcendence. The Latin mass of language, character, occasional new truth. But our desperation has led us toward something larger and darker. So we turn to the news, which provides an unremitting mood of catastrophe. This is where we find emotional experience not available elsewhere. We don't need the novel. Quoting Bill. We don't even need catastrophes, necessarily. We only need the reports and predictions and warnings.”

“Do you know why I believe in the novel? It’s a democratic shout. Anybody can write a great novel, one great novel, almost any amateur off the street. I believe this, George. Some nameless drudge, some desperado with barely a nurtured dream can sit down and find his voice and luck out and do it. Something so angelic it makes your jaw hang open. The spray of talent, the spray of ideas. One thing unlike another, one voice unlike the next. Ambiguities, contradictions, whispers, hints. And this is what you want to destroy.”

“Years ago I used to think it was possible for a novelist to alter the inner life of the culture. Now bomb-makers and gunmen have taken that territory. They make raids on human consciousness. What writers used to do before we were all incorporated.”

“What terrorists gain, novelists lose. The degree to which they influence mass consciousness is the extent of our decline as shapers of sensibility and thought. The danger they represent equals our own failure to be dangerous.'

'And the more clearly we see terror, the less impact we feel from art.”

“News of disaster is the only narrative people need. The darker the news, the grander the narrative. News is the last addiction before—what? I don't know. But you're smart to trap us in your camera before we disappear.”

“The future belongs to crowds.”

https://www.goodreads.com/work/quotes/2456942-mao-ii?page=1

https://www.goodreads.com/work/quotes/2456942-mao-ii?page=2

https://www.nytimes.com/books/97/03/16/lifetimes/del-r-mao.html

[heartwing]

Passages from Mao II

“The novel used to feed our search for meaning. Quoting Bill. It was the great secular transcendence. The Latin mass of language, character, occasional new truth. But our desperation has led us toward something larger and darker. So we turn to the news, which provides an unremitting mood of catastrophe. This is where we find emotional experience not available elsewhere. We don't need the novel. Quoting Bill. We don't even need catastrophes, necessarily. We only need the reports and predictions and warnings.”

“Do you know why I believe in the novel? It’s a democratic shout. Anybody can write a great novel, one great novel, almost any amateur off the street. I believe this, George. Some nameless drudge, some desperado with barely a nurtured dream can sit down and find his voice and luck out and do it. Something so angelic it makes your jaw hang open. The spray of talent, the spray of ideas. One thing unlike another, one voice unlike the next. Ambiguities, contradictions, whispers, hints. And this is what you want to destroy.”

“Years ago I used to think it was possible for a novelist to alter the inner life of the culture. Now bomb-makers and gunmen have taken that territory. They make raids on human consciousness. What writers used to do before we were all incorporated.”

“What terrorists gain, novelists lose. The degree to which they influence mass consciousness is the extent of our decline as shapers of sensibility and thought. The danger they represent equals our own failure to be dangerous.'

'And the more clearly we see terror, the less impact we feel from art.”

“News of disaster is the only narrative people need. The darker the news, the grander the narrative. News is the last addiction before—what? I don't know. But you're smart to trap us in your camera before we disappear.”

“The future belongs to crowds.”

https://www.goodreads.com/work/quotes/2456942-mao-ii?page=1

https://www.goodreads.com/work/quotes/2456942-mao-ii?page=2

https://www.nytimes.com/books/97/03/16/lifetimes/del-r-mao.html

Interesting thread and quotes. I am interested in Mao II though I will admit here Falling Man was a bit difficult for me to get into. I don't know. It may have been an issue of when I read it.

[Red Terror]

Interesting thread and quotes. I am interested in Mao II though I will admit here Falling Man was a bit difficult for me to get into. I don't know. It may have been an issue of when I read it.

Mao II was easy to read. I got a paperback version which is about 200 pages. You will see too.

[heartwing]

Mao II was easy to read. I got a paperback version which is about 200 pages. You will see too. Sweet. I'm looking into it. Thanks RT.

[TheFifthElement]

Mao II is excellent and I agree, Red Terror, one of DeLillo's easier reads. I recommend The Names too, a brilliant book about language and conspiracy.