After reading Point Omega I knew I would need to return to DeLillo's earlier "short novel" to see if there was a connection. I feel these two novels are very strongly tied together. Not so much in plot or theme. But, somewhere in these two texts is this discovery of time as still and moving.
I first read The Body Artist upon its release. I loved the book and have placed it on my top ten favorite books of all time list. I can't recall what my theory of the book was at the time. So, I'm uncertain if how I feel now is the same as how I felt then.
I feel the book is a complex study of loss. The way we mourn the death of someone we love. And, in the case of this novel, how an artist relates to the loss of another artist/lover. The filmmaker and the performance artist. These two as different studies in art, but somehow so similar. The idea of creating an illusion of reality through fantasy through reality.
Laura is just a shell. She creates herself as something new. Someone new. She is never herself. Unable to be alone. A need to constantly create. So, is this stranger in her house a reality? A fantasy? A work of art in progress? DeLillo is a master at not giving direct answers. Just suggestion.
B+
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