Name

Author: Don DeLillo
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2002-12-01
Features: In 1979, DeLillo moved to Greece and began writing his seventh novel, The Names (1982). The setting of the novel expands from the United States to the international stage, but the subject matter remains closely tied to America, such as the attitude of Americans toward foreigners and the perception of foreigners about Americans. The novel is divided into four parts: Island, Mountain, Desert, and Prairie, corresponding to Kyros Island in Greece, the Peloponnese Peninsula, India, and Kansas in the United States. The protagonist, James Axtell, is a risk analyst for the Northeast Group, a company based in Greece that provides political risk consulting and sells risk insurance to U.S. companies abroad. James’s wife, Catherine, moves with their nine-year-old son, Tip, from Canada to Kyros Island in Greece after separating from her husband. They conduct archaeological excavations under the guidance of American archaeologist Owen Brady. The reason James agreed to work in Greece was partly to see Catherine and his son more often. During one of his visits to the island, he hears that an unnamed cult has beaten an elderly vagrant to death with a stick. Soon after, Owen discovers that the victims are often elderly and frail homeless people, and their initials match those of the locations where they were killed. For example, one victim’s name is Michael Karyambis, and the location of the crime is Mikro Kamiini. Both names start with the letters M and K. Why must the initials of the victims match those of the location? Curiosity drives Owen to investigate the cult. Soon, James joins the investigation along with independent filmmaker Frank W. Eventually, Owen finds a branch of the letter-killing cult in India and has long talks with its leader. He even witnesses the cult’s process of committing murder. The story of the letter-killing cult is the main plot of The Names, but there are also two other threads: one is James’s relationship with his wife and his efforts to reconcile with her, and the other is James’s life as an American expatriate in Greece, including his risk consulting company’s connection with the CIA and the resistance of Greek nationalists to U.S. interference in Greek affairs. These three threads interweave and run parallel, so The Names is both a cult story, a murder story, a detective story, and an emotional story, as well as a political story. By depicting and exposing the U.S. use of business to influence, infiltrate, and interfere in the affairs of other countries, DeLillo expresses his criticism of American commercial culture and political hegemony in the post-colonial and post-imperialist era. The novel shows that no matter where Americans go, they try to control the people there through their commercial culture. They not only establish military bases in other countries but often threaten them with cutting off economic aid or investments if they express dissatisfaction. They can even ignore the dignity of other nations, providing large sums of money to hostile countries like Turkey in the territory of Greece. Meanwhile, the countries colonized by business often have to swallow their pride and submit to short-term economic interests, as Greek nationalist Andreas Eliaz would say, "Taking American money and doing what the Americans say." Therefore, in his view, the future of Greece does not belong to the Greek people but is "in the hands of the Americans." Once they control the political and economic lifelines of a country, Americans can act arrogantly and do as they please. From a political perspective, The Names depicts an "expansionist theme, a colonialist theme, an exploitative theme, and a theme of maximizing utilization."