Valparaiso: Amazon.ca: Don Delillo: Books

Descriptions du produit

Product Description

DeLillo's second play, "Valparaiso" tells - through a series of media interviews - the story of a man who embarked on what he imagined would be a completely routine business trip to Valparaiso, Indiana. As he discovered, however, and as he relates in the interviews, it proved to be anything but run-of-the-mill, turning instead into a journey of rather more epic and international proportions - and one which, furthermore, causes him to question his hitherto unchallenged assumptions about modern life, its aspirations and ambitions. Written in a witty, slightly tongue-in-cheek style, this is a sharp, satirical look at the information age in which we live, where the world as we know it is shaped more by what we read in newspapers, hear on the radio, or see on TV than it is by our own individual experiences.

About the Author

Don DeLillo is the author of two plays and thirteen novels, including Underworld and The Body Artist. He has won the National Book Award, the Jerusalem Prize and the Irish Times International Fiction Prize.

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Living room of the Majeski house. Lire la premi�re page

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L'avis des consommateurs

11 �valuations

5 �toiles:		(2)
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3.0�toiles sur 5 (11 �valuations de client)

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Commentaires client les plus utiles

2.0�toiles sur 5 a blatantly obvious satire, Juil 19 2002

Par	biz markie (PENNSYLVANNIA) - Voir tous mes commentaires

This review is from: Valparaiso: A Play (Paperback)

Writing satire is fun and easy. As long as your work is satirical, you don't need real dialogue, well-formed characters, or an interesting plotline. Delillo satirizes the media, so he is allowed to get away with laughable dialogue and characters with one dimension (at best). I agree with another reviewer who said that Chuck Pahlaniuk's Survivor was superior to Valparaiso. Survivor, which also satirizes the role of the media in today's culture, is funnier, more inventive, and a much better read. Please do yourself a favor and skip this play. The only bright spot to reading it will be that while it will waste your time, due to its short length it will not waste too much of it.

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3.0�toiles sur 5 An airplane trip to the inner self, F�v 4 2002

Par	Michael J. Mazza (Pittsburgh, PA USA) - Voir tous mes commentaires (TOP 500 REVIEWER) (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Valparaiso: A Play (Paperback)

"Valparaiso" is a play by Don DeLillo. According to the book's copyright page, the play was first performed in 1999 at the American Repertory Theatre in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The play tells the story of Michael Majeski, a man who has attained celebrity status after an unusual journey: his business flight to Valparaiso, Indiana had become an unexpected odyssey that was both strange and ridiculous.

I read "Valparaiso" as a sometimes dark satire on television and the culture of instant celebrity. Majeski's story is also a reflection on individuality and free will (or the seeming lack thereof in the modern world). This is a surreal piece that is not, in my opinion, wholly effective, but nonetheless contains some sections with both real bite and pathos.

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5.0�toiles sur 5 your culture or mine?, D�c 18 2001

Par	Jonathan (NYC) - Voir tous mes commentaires

This review is from: Valparaiso: A Play (Hardcover)

If you examine Mr. Delillo's body of work as a whole, each piece plays a part in defining his question: Where/how do we find/create meaning in contemporary society?

You (or I, on another day) may disagree with my supposition, and to be fair if his work can be pegged to a central premise, it is likely a tad more subtle and complex, but I think it is a good place to begin.

In Valparaiso, Delillo sends us on a preposterous postmodern journey to god knows where (only here, he situates god knows where in Chile). He grabs the uneasy in each of us and throws it up on the stage. "Here, look at this: Remember how uncomfortable contemporary society can make you? When's the last time you had a meaningful conversation with your spouse? When's the last time you had a meaningful thought?"

Delillo adds depth to the otherwise hackneyed proposal that our 'individuality' is merely a creation of our preferences as consumers. His characters here may not reveal their complex inner lives, but one suspects that they may be more than an amalgam of what they buy on Amazon or see on cable.

Sure maybe it's all affectation. Maybe D's being insincere in the way he poses the questions. I don't think so. I think what you'll find is a smartly crafted, mildly apocalyptic tale of suburban dis-ease. If it works well, you should feel a slight nausea at play's end.

Valparaiso is very much worth seeing performed by a smart group of actors. It is also very much worth reading.

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Commentaires client les plus r�cents

5.0�toiles sur 5 The Way We Live Now
As other reviewers have noted, it is difficult to judge a work which is essentially a blueprint for an experience in another medium -- and perhaps unfair to judge it by the... Read more

Publi� le Mai 22 2001

3.0�toiles sur 5 DeLillo's trip to media-purgatory
'Valparaiso', DeLillo's latest drama, is a poignant, cynical decension into the dephts and trivia of talk show-crazy America. Read more

Publi� le F�v 9 2001 par Mathias Ortmann

2.0�toiles sur 5 Go for his fiction, not drama
This is Delillo's second published play to go with (at the time, 1999) his eleven novels. It is a play in two acts with only five characters. Read more