Extended Interview: Don DeLillo on Literature, Politics & America's Uncertain Future

Click on the 'Listen' button above to hear this interview.

Author Don DeLillo has attempted to capture the soul of American life and politics with his fiction for decades. He's plunged into events that are emblazoned in American minds — from the Kennedy assassination in the book "Libra," to the old Polo Grounds and the Cold War in "Underworld," to the media cycle in "White Noise."

DeLillo rarely gives interviews, but The Takeaway had the chance to sit down and speak with him about his latest novel, "Zero K," which replaces God with technology and the hope for life after death with parallels to Silicon Valley. 

The characters in the novel travel to a facility called "The Convergence" in an attempt to extend their lives indefinitely.

“It's life ever-lasting based not on faith alone, or on a deep belief in God, but based strictly on technology," says DeLillo.

It's a grasp for a future that DeLillo isn't so sure Americans really believe in any more, not because he's turning 80 soon, but because of a present-day fascination with destruction that manifests throughout the culture. 

"It's supposed to be part of an American religion to believe in the future," DeLillo says. "But I'm not sure it has maintained the same strength that it used to have. The subject has become quite prevalent these days, no longer rooted in the fear of a nuclear exchange between the United States and the Soviet Union, but in the fear of climate change and other elements, as well." 

The nervousness is equally prevalent on the presidential trail and with the Donald Trump phenomenon, which DeLillo says is too "far flung" for him to grasp. 

"As far as the future is concerned, what are we faced with immediately? We are faced with a presidential candidate that surpasses anything in our living experience. What will Trump tell us tomorrow and the day after, and how will it affect the sense of ourselves as Americans?" 

Click on the 'Listen' button above to hear our full conversation with DeLillo.