Since he first decided that he wanted to be a writer in the mid-1960s, Don DeLillo has maintained a steadily prolific output of work, publishing fifteen novels ranging across a broad variety of topics, including the absurdity of fame (Great Jones Street), the complexities of consumerism and academia (White Noise), and the class war in America (Cosmopolis).
On the eve of his acceptance of the National Book Foundation’s 2015 Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters (an award previously given to authors such as Joan Didion, Ray Bradbury, Tom Wolfe, Toni Morrison, and Stephen King), the seventy-nine-year-old author has announced his latest work, to be released in May of next year by Scribner. Zero K, novel number sixteen, is told from the perspective of Jeffrey Lockhart, the son of billionaire Ross Lockhart, who is working towards developing new medical technology to fight back against the certainty of death.
It’s not known yet whether the book will be brief, like his last project Point Omega, or extensive, like his 1997 opus Underworld, but Scribner is likening it to the latter in terms of tone and weight—and since the story has already been optioned to FX for a series adaptation, Zero K is likely to be substantial.
(via The Guardian)
