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چکیده
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The present thesis seeks to scrutinize Don DeLillo’s Cosmopolis (2003) and Falling Man (2007) in terms of Benjaminian’s concepts of reproducibility, aura, and storytelling. Walter Benjamin, the German Jewish philosopher and literary and cultural critic, argues that the emergence of new technologies including film, photography and printing press not only has drastically changed the function of works of art in society, but also has inevitably led to a sharp decline of aura in those artworks. According to Benjamin, the concept of storytelling has diminished by the act of dissemination of the novels and the information in the modern age. For Benjamin, the act of replication of artworks led to the disappearance of other significant features such as uniqueness and authenticity, which are in close affinity with aura of artworks. In the novel Cosmopolis, Don DeLillo demonstrates Eric Packer, the protagonist, a billionaire asset manager who travels across New York City in his limousine to get a haircut. During his trip to the city, he analyzes the unstable economic situation, watches the news and videos of the death of his friends through the screens and monitors of his expensive car. Another novel, which depicts the devaluation of the artworks in modern times, is Falling Man. In this novel, DeLillo depicts the horrible situation of the character Keith Neudecker, as the protagonist, where he manages to escape from the 9/11 attacks. Keith listens to recorded songs, which have been reproduced in unlimited numbers. In the novel, Martin is an art dealer, and his fiancée, Nina, is a collector. Nina has various paintings on her wall that she has bought them from different people or art exhibitions. By focusing on the characters of the two novels, it can be recognized that DeLillo depicts the withering of aura due to the replication of works of art through the characters Keith Neudecker and Erick Packer. Also, he demonstrates the significance of storytelling by providing a rather detailed analysis of the significant character, Benno Levin and Florence Givens. Moreover, DeLillo illustrates the concept of reproducibility mainly through the reproductions of Erick Packer and Carol Shoup which has led to the devaluation of those artworks.
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