A Study of the Concepts of Hyperreality and Simulation in Don DeLillo’s White Noise

The focus of the present study is on Postmodernism as one of the most controversial issues of the contemporary era. In a media-dominated society and with ever-increasing rate domination of technology, Postmodernism challenges man’s belief by establishing lots of controversies in almost every field of study. The French postmodern philosopher Jean Baudrillard believes that in a media-dominated consumer society, postmodernism challenges reality perception and in this sense, he appropriates the terms hyperreality and simulation to describe the  lo’s White Noise as a highly acclaimed postmodern novel, this study attempts to offer a literary study in the light of Baudrillard’s  theory. new postmodern condition. Considering Don DeLil lo’s White Noise as a highly acclaimed postmodern novel, this study attempts to offer a literary study in the light of Baudrillard’s theory

 “Hyperreality” and “simulation” were coined by Jean Baudrillard in his philosophical treatise Simulacra and Simulation. Writing the most notable works on the subject of postmodernism, Baudrillard, as a prolific author, encourages numerous researchers to examine notions such as hyperreality and simulation in their studies. Considering the critical reading of White Noise, John Frow was probably the first critic to apply a Baudrillardian reading of the aforementioned novel. However, numerous other critics such as Leonard Wilcox, John Duvall, Thomas J. Ferraro, etc. draw some parallels between White Noise and Baudrillardian viewpoints. Although many other critics, for instance, Cornel Bonca and Anjeanette Wiese, just to name a few, examine the novel from different vantage points. For instance, in 1996, Cornel Bonca in his paper printed in College Literature entitled “Don DeLillo’s White Noise: The Natural Language of the Species” analyzes the language of the novel. To cite another example, “Rethinking Postmodern Narrativity: Narrative Construction and Identity Formation in Don DeLillo’s ‘White Noise’” is a paper written by Anjeanette Wiese through which she focuses on the characters’ identity and narrative structures of the novel. It is also worth mentioning that Baudrillard’s books and theories have contributed to various fields of studies, namely, sociology, philosophy, cultural studies.

This research is a library and electronic-based research. Accordingly, the researchers aim at focusing on Baudrillard’s numerous books and papers and also various studies were done in light of his works. The discussion is based on Baudrillardian concepts of hyperreality and simulation. In this regard, the researcher endeavors to explore these terms application in DeLillo’s White Noise. Depicting contemporary America as a distinguished sample of Postmodern society, White Noise tells the story of an American family drowning in a media-dominated consumer society and facing a plethora of events  which lead them to believe they are living in a hyperreal world dominated by simulations.

The postmodern world of the given novel portrayed an American lifestyle drowned in the signs and images produced by mass media and consumerism. This study demonstrates the characters’ serious doubts about reality. It is a simulated reality or in Baudrillard’s word a hyperreality that takes the place of reality. Consequently, highly dominated by simulations, the postmodern world of the novel which is also highly influenced by mass media and consumerism moves toward a hyperreal condition which is a reality more real than real.