THE MODERN APOCALYPSE: CONTEXTUALIZING URBAN PANDEMIC IN SELECT WORK OF DON DELILLO

Human existence has always been in close proximity of pandemics that may have a tendency to wipe them off the planet. However, with the evolutionary progress and rampant development of technology, these disasters are often man-made. The contemporary society that experiences Covid-19, mitigation of which often validated the usage of masks, lockdown and containment zones can also be read within the framework of Don DeLillo whose text White Noise presents a scenario of contemporary America that has fallen to a pandemic like situation after an urban disaster.

To comprehend the issues affecting the contemporary society, it is pertinent to take cognizance of the technological evolution and the subsequent sophisticated forms of repressions. They are a direct consequence of existence in these ‘urban technoscapes’ because modern living is often prone to man-made disasters. Keeping in cue with the aforesaid, the study attempts at underscoring the ‘simulacrum’ conjured in DeLillo’s select fiction to discern the gradual catastrophe of technical expansion. The paper aims to underline how the rising scientific grandiose comes accompanied with man-made dissent and tragedy. It also attempts at highlighting how mitigating the modern day apocalypse is bound to the very technology that causes the collapse. DeLillo’s America is similar to that of present day India with people facing unintelligible stress of a lockdown, forced evacuation and also zonal containment that has not only caused psychological issues but also crisis in current extant.