Humanities Brown Bag Seminar

Dust, that most commonplace of things, exists both on Earth and in the heavens. It is the stuff of myth and scientific scrutiny, capable of provoking irritation and aesthetic appreciation in equal measure. This talk draws on a collaborative project with Christine Lehleiter at the University of Toronto that attempts to trace the discursive features defining modernity's encounter with dust—both as a physical substance and as an abstraction. This talk will begin with a historical overview that touches on a few of the project's broader research questions before moving to a case study focused on Don DeLillo's novel White Noise (1985), in which both literal and metaphorical examples of dust abound. These include—but are by no means limited to—toxic clouds, spectacular sunsets, drifting data "particles," anxiety-inducing nebulosity, and, not least of all, the novel's central metaphor.