Join the Reading Club for WHITE NOISE

The Reading Club will meet again on Thursday, February 25th from 6 to 8 pm (s.t.) to discuss Don DeLillo's White Noise (1985).

The earth is forced to grapple with a global pandemic while our means of mass communication threaten to encroach upon every facet of our lives.

Okay Google, put hand sanitizer and FFP2 masks on my grocery list!

Still, we somehow have to keep on keeping on. We endure our everyday lives and inexplicably make plans for the future, personal and global crises be damned. Some sly fox named Don DeLillo expected all of this to happen almost four decades ago, so we should take the opportunity to see if we can learn something from his famous work, White Noise, while we still can. Set in a rural North American college town, this postmodern classic discusses themes of authenticity, communication, and mortality; things which are always relevant, and even moreso today.

Our good old-fashioned Reading Club provides a setting in which the classics are discussed in an informal way. This was inspired by three observations: one, there are way too many canonical literary works that we haven’t read – but probably should; two, it might be more fun to engage with these texts when we actually get the chance to discuss our reading experience afterwards; three, despite our passion for visual media, it is sometimes nice to return to the written word.

Even if you are not part of the English Department, please feel free to drop by and have a little chat.

Here is the link to our Webex room:

https://uni-giessen.webex.com/uni-giessen/j.php?MTID=mfc9bd9aa4f12378807d3e30e508da55f

And here is the password:

airborne

In case you don't have prior experience with Webex, all you need to do is click on the link, enter your name (e-mail is optional), and you should be in! Remember to check your microphone and webcam settings to see if things work. If all else fails, try exiting and clicking on the link again, or contact me at: Kai.U.Schmehl@anglistik.uni-giessen.de

We’re looking forward to seeing you and until then, have fun reading!

Kai-Uwe Schmehl