Editing Don DeLillo (section)

===2000s===
Although they have received some acclaim in places, DeLillo's post-''[[Underworld (DeLillo novel)|Underworld]]'' novels have been often viewed by critics as "disappointing and slight, especially when held up against his earlier, big-canvas epics",<ref name="online"/> marking a shift "away from sweeping, era-defining novels" such as ''White Noise'', ''Libra'' and ''Underworld'' to a more "spare and oblique"<ref name="online"/> style, characterized by "decreased length, the decommissioning of plot machinery and the steep deceleration of narrative time".<ref>{{cite news|first=Mark|last=O'Connell |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2012/sep/09/angel-esmeralda-don-delillo-review?newsfeed=true |title=The Angel Esmeralda: Nine Stories by Don DeLillo – review |newspaper=[[The Observer]]  |date= September 9, 2012|access-date=November 23, 2013 |location=London}}</ref>

DeLillo has said of this shift to shorter novels, "If a longer novel announces itself, I'll write it. A novel creates its own structure and develops its own terms. I tend to follow. And I never try to stretch what I sense is a compact book."<ref name="entertainment.timesonline.co.uk"/> In a March 2010 interview, it was reported that DeLillo's deliberate stylistic shift had been informed by his having recently reread several slim but seminal European novels, including [[Albert Camus]]'s ''[[The Stranger (Camus novel)|The Stranger]]'', [[Peter Handke]]'s ''[[The Goalie's Anxiety at the Penalty Kick]]'', and [[Max Frisch]]'s ''[[Man in the Holocene]]''.<ref name="theaustralian1"/>

After the publication and extensive publicity drive for ''Underworld'', DeLillo once again retreated from the spotlight to write his 12th novel, surfacing with ''[[The Body Artist (novel)|The Body Artist]]'' in 2001. The novel has many established DeLillo preoccupations, particularly its interest in performance art and domestic privacies in relation to the wider scope of events. But it is very different in style and tone from the epic history of ''Underworld'', and met with mixed critical reception.

DeLillo followed ''The Body Artist'' with 2003's ''[[Cosmopolis (novel)|Cosmopolis]]'', a modern reinterpretation of [[James Joyce]]'s ''[[Ulysses (novel)|Ulysses]]'' transposed to New York around the time of the collapse of the [[dot-com bubble]] in 2000. The novel was met at the time with a largely negative reception from critics, with several high-profile critics and novelists—notably [[John Updike]]—voicing their objections to its style and tone.

When asked in 2005 how he felt about the novel's mixed reception compared to the broader positive consensus afforded to ''[[Underworld (DeLillo novel)|Underworld]]'', DeLillo remarked: "I try to stay detached from that aspect of my work as a writer. I didn't read any reviews or articles. Maybe it [the negative reception] was connected to [[September 11 attacks|September 11]]. I'd almost finished writing the book when the attacks took place, and so they couldn't have had any influence on the book's conception, nor on its writing. Perhaps for certain readers this upset their expectations."<ref name="perival_b" /> Critical opinions have since been revised, the novel latterly being seen as prescient for its focus on the flaws and weaknesses of the international financial system and cybercapital.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2012-09-12 |title=Contact With The Real: On 'Cosmopolis' |url=https://lareviewofbooks.org/article/contact-with-the-real-on-cosmopolis/ |access-date=2025-03-24 |website=Los Angeles Review of Books}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Jeffery |first=Ben |date=2014-11-14 |title=Foes of God |url=https://thepointmag.com/criticism/foes-god/ |access-date=2025-03-24 |website=The Point Magazine |language=en-US}}</ref>

DeLillo's papers were acquired in 2004 by the [[Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center]] at the [[University of Texas at Austin]],<ref>{{cite news| title =Ransom Center Acquires Archive of Noted American Novelist Don DeLillo| url =http://www.hrc.utexas.edu/news/press/2004/delillo.html| work =HRC News| date =October 20, 2004| url-status=dead| archive-url =https://web.archive.org/web/20070423141147/http://www.hrc.utexas.edu/news/press/2004/delillo.html| archive-date =April 23, 2007}}</ref> reputedly for "half a million dollars".<ref name="newyorker.com"/> There are "[one] hundred and twenty-five boxes" of DeLillo materials, including various drafts and correspondence.<ref name="newyorker.com"/> Of his decision to donate his papers to the Ransom Center, DeLillo has said: "I ran out of space and also felt, as one does at a certain age, that I was running out of time. I didn't want to leave behind an enormous mess of papers for family members to deal with. Of course, I've since produced more paper—novel, play, essay, etc.—and so the cycle begins again."<ref name="newyorker.com"/>

DeLillo published his final novel of the decade, ''[[Falling Man (novel)|Falling Man]]'', in 2007. The novel concerns the impact on one family of the [[9/11]] terrorist attacks on the [[World Trade Center (1973–2001)|World Trade Center]] in New York, "an intimate story which is encompassed by a global event".<ref name="dumpendebat.net"/> DeLillo said he originally "didn't ever want to write a novel about 9/11" and "had an idea for a different book" he had "been working on for half a year" in 2004 when he came up with the idea for the novel, beginning work on it following the reelection of [[George W. Bush]] that November.<ref name="dumpendebat.net"/>

Although highly anticipated and eagerly awaited by critics, who felt that DeLillo was one of the contemporary writers best equipped to tackle the events of 9/11 in novelistic form, the novel met with a mixed critical reception and garnered no major literary awards or nominations. DeLillo remained unconcerned by this relative lack of critical acclaim, remarking in 2010, "In the 1970s, when I started writing novels, I was a figure in the margins, and that's where I belonged. If I'm headed back that way, that's fine with me because that's always where I felt I belonged. Things changed for me in the 1980s and 1990s, but I've always preferred to be somewhere in the corner of a room, observing."<ref name="entertainment.timesonline.co.uk"/>

On July 24, 2009, ''Entertainment Weekly'' announced that [[David Cronenberg]] would adapt ''[[Cosmopolis (novel)|Cosmopolis]]'' for the screen, with "a view to eventually direct."<ref>{{cite magazine |url=https://ew.com/article/2009/07/24/david-cronenberg-cosmopolis/ |title=David Cronenberg journeys to 'Cosmopolis' |magazine=Entertainment Weekly |date=July 24, 2009 |access-date=March 16, 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090726094922/http://news-briefs.ew.com/2009/07/david-cronenberg-cosmopolis.html |archive-date=July 26, 2009}}</ref> ''[[Cosmopolis (film)|Cosmopolis]]'', eventually released in 2012, became the first direct adaptation for the screen of a DeLillo novel, although both ''Libra'' and ''Underworld'' had previously been optioned for screen treatments. There were discussions about adapting ''[[End Zone]]'', and DeLillo has written an original screenplay for the film ''[[Game 6]]''.

DeLillo ended the decade by making an unexpected appearance at a [[PEN America|PEN]] event on the steps of the [[New York Public Library]] in support of Chinese dissident writer [[Liu Xiaobo]], who was sentenced to 11 years in prison for "inciting subversion of state power" on December 31, 2009.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.pen.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/4453/prmID/172 |title=PEN American Center – Writers Rally for Release of Liu Xiaobo |publisher=Pen.org |date=December 31, 2009 |access-date=March 16, 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100327125404/http://www.pen.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/4453/prmID/172 |archive-date=March 27, 2010}}</ref>