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Don DeLillo - Writer
Don DeLillo
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Fiction, drama and essay writer, Donald Richard “Don” DeLillo (1936, USA) is the eldest son of an Italian family. Literature didn’t become an interest, nor writing a passion to pursue, for him until the
end of his adolescence, spent on the Bronx streets. One time, he recalled how
important the title of his first book was – Americana.
His books are also a voice that DeLillo understands as necessarily marginal –
an energy that was born in the country inland, and then assailed it and shaped
it. After the initial appreciation within the academic channel, came the
enthusiastic acknowledgement from critics and a good reception from the public,
which turned DeLillo into an author who is read all over the world and one of
the maximum exponents of contemporary American literature – Harold Bloom was
one of the first critics to assign him that epithet. He is also, of course, one
of the most influential names, not only in the literary domain, but even for
pop culture as well. Along with authors such as Hemingway, Faulkner and Joyce,
or jazz music, cinema is an important influence on his works. The awards and
nominations he has received are countless. They include the National Book
Award, the PEN/Faulkner Award, the Inaugural Library of Congress Prize for
American Fiction, the Pullitzer (finalist) and the inclusion of his book Underworld among the top three novels of
the last 25 years, by the New York Times Book review. He will soon receive the
Distinguished Contribution to American Letters Medal.