COMMUNICATION AND MASS MEDIA IN DELILLO'S WHITE NOISE AND PYNCHO'S THE CRYING OF LOT 49

Abstract

White Noise and The Crying of Lot 49 are considered Image Fiction novels, works that try to make visible the influence that mass media had on modern era. This is exemplified in both novels, as media deeply affect their plot’s development as well as the characters’ evolution and ways of communicating. This essay focuses on this from three main points of view: the extent to which the audience engages with the media in both works, the extent to which media become the only source of information and the consequences this may have, and the importance of concepts such as “noise,” language or drugs in both novels.