Janus Head

Volume 7, Issue 2, 2004

The Loss of Language, The Language of Loss
Thinking With DeLillo On Terror and Mourning

This essay is a philosophical reading of Don DeLillo’s novel, The Body Artist, and his essay, “In the Ruins of the Future.” Focusing on the issues of loss, mourning, and terror after the attacks of September the 11th, I argue that DeLillo gives a picture of mourning as something that occurs through a loss of language. This loss does not end language; instead, it occurs through language.