Which 1985 Don DeLillo novel won the National Book Award for Fiction?

Which 1985 Don DeLillo novel won the National Book Award for Fiction? The answer is White Noise.

Published by Viking Press in 1985, White Noise is DeLillo’s eighth novel and his breakthrough work. It follows Jack Gladney, a professor of Hitler studies, and his blended family in the fictional Midwestern town of Blacksmith. The novel examines death, consumerism, media saturation, family life, and fear of catastrophe.

The award helped establish DeLillo as a major American novelist. Readers sometimes confuse White Noise with Libra or Underworld, both also important DeLillo novels. Libra was a National Book Award finalist in 1988, while Underworld was a finalist in 1997; neither won the 1985 prize.

The title’s “white noise” refers broadly to the constant stream of sounds, information, advertisements, and anxieties that surrounds modern life. Noah Baumbach later adapted the novel into a 2022 film starring Adam Driver and Greta Gerwig.