078 - Libra by Don DeLillo (Part I)

We begin the second iteration of the Heat Death of the Universe Book Club with the first of two discussions of Don DeLillo's 1988 landmark novel, Libra. Was Lee Harvey Oswald merely a dyslexic contrarian failson who wanted to dad-marry John Wayne, or did he hold deeper philosophical convictions and was his interior life more complex and compelling than it may've seemed in many lights? Just how deranged does one need to be to be a truly gung-ho CIA agent? Can enough research drive a person to a psychotic break? Was the mob more threatened by Bobby or John? Does it matter? Are secrets instruments of profundity or just places to keep the shame spirals? Was 11/22 really the Boomer 9/11? Well, as JFK himself once said: "Even though I'm better than you, I'm not."

General Recommendations

• JD's Recommendation: The End of the World News: An Entertainment by Anthony Burgess
• JNM's Recommendation: All of Brad Neely's creative output

Further Reading, Viewing, Listening

• Q&A: Don DeLillo - Exploring ‘Libra’ and the Assassination of John F. Kennedy

Locationless Locations

• heatdeathpod.com
• Every show-related link is corralled and available here.
• Heat Death of the Universe - @heatdeathpod
• JD Newland - @jdnewland
• Joshua Nomen-Mutatio - @ImbalancingAct
• Please send all Letters of Derision, Indifference, Inquiry, Mild Elation, et cetera to: [e-mail]

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