Abstract
This essay argues that the archive is the central trope of Don DeLillo's Libra (1988). The novel's contemporary protagonist, a retired CIA analyst named Nicholas Branch, pores over the Kennedy assassination's voluminous archive in an attempt to mitigate the political and epistemological chaos precipitated by the president's death. However, the desire to locate within this archive a controlling, “meta-historical” vantage point on the assassination proves untenable. Drawing on Jacques Derrida's theorizing of both the archive and the event, this essay contends that Branch's project of “archivization produces as much as it records the event” (Archive 17). In depicting the conspiracy against the president as itself a protracted exercise in the production and management of documents, DeLillo demonstrates that the destructive effects of the assassination can only be augmented, carried down into the future, by reiterative acts of archival violence.
Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
