“All plots tend to move deathward. This is the nature of plots. Political plots, terrorist plots, lovers’ plots, narrative plots, plots that are part of children’s games. We edge nearer death every time we plot. It is like a contract that all must sign, the plotters as well as those who are the targets of the plot.”

American novelist, short-story writer, playwright, screenwriter, and essayist

Donald Richard DeLillo is an American novelist, short-story writer, playwright, screenwriter, and essayist. He is known for fiction that takes on modern life and its pressures, from consumer culture and television to politics, economics, sport, and the digital age. Across novels, stories, plays, scripts, and essays, DeLillo returns to the systems and language that shape public and private life. His work also engages with nuclear war, art, and mathematics, often tracing how ideas, media, and technology affect the way people think and speak.