apophenia
The narrative structure of DeLillo’s Libra is (probably intentionally) as bewildering and disorienting as the real-life understanding of the event it describes. Yet in contrast to how the reader’s understanding of the plot is constantly elusive, one of the most prevailing themes in this novel is how the characters themselves are always very confident that they can find order in the chaos of the narratives they inhabit. Throughout the novel, these questions of patterns, order, and randomness appear in many different forms, and offer insights into larger themes. Lee is a striking embodiment of these questions. He is the human expression of the sense of confusion that permeates the historical record surrounding the Kennedy assassination: there exists an enormous amount of information and facts about him, but none of it makes his actual character and actions make any sense. And yet Lee himself is unafflicted by any existential doubt about his own inco