The Cambridge Companion to Don DeLillo Book

Some worthwhile essays mixed in with some filler - pretty much par for the course as far as the series goes. The introduction provides a nice overview of his work for those (such as myself) who can't profess a comprehensive knowledge. I thought the duo of essays discussing Delillo's modernism vs postmodernism were also very interesting, although I'm not sure if I wholly agree with how the definition of the latter was laid out. That said, I can accept that postmodernity as it appears in literature is substantively different to how it tends to be approached in other disciplines, and there was a welcome effort by the author to avoid sinking back into the natural ambiguity of the term.

On the other side of the scale, the essay on masculinity was conspicuously shallow, and amounted at times to little more than a survey of Delillo's male characters. In other words, less of a discussion of masculinity in Delillo than a transposition of the study of masculinity (or a rather superficial version thereof) onto Delillo. And I find it hard to envisage anyone sufficiently interested in the topic to read the essay who won't already be familiar with the arguments advanced.

Still, always nice to find litcrit on contemporary authors, and there's plenty of interest for the selective reader. Obviously not a lot of use regarding his most recent work given the publication date of the book, but Cosmopolis/Falling Man don't go without a mention IIRC.