Misattibution note:  At least one quotation book has incorrectly attributed DeLillo’s quote to American author Joan Didion. Although Didion did write about California in works such as “Notes from a Native Daughter,” Repeat Right editors could find no evidence supporting Didion as the original author of the “Californians invented the concept of life-style…” quote.

Extended excerpt [Fiction – character ‘Alfonse,’ speaking to lunch companions]:

“This is where California comes in. Mud slides, brush fires, coastal erosion, earthquakes, mass killings, et cetera. We can relax and enjoy these disasters because in our hearts we fell that California deserves whatever it gets. Californians invented the concept of life-style. This alone warrants their doom.” (p. 66)

Source: Library – White Noise (1985|1999 Penguin Books edition) International Standard Book Number (ISBN) 978-0-14-028330-3

Extended excerpt [Fiction – character ‘Owen Brademas’ to the narrator, James]:

“I don’t think I want to go back. Teach what? To whom?” He paused. “I’ve come to think of Europe as a hardcover book, America as the paperback version.” Laughing, clasping his hands. “I’ve given myself over to the stones, James. All I want to do is read the stones.” (p. 23)

Source: Library – The Names (1982|July 1989 Vintage Books edition) International Standard Book Number (ISBN) 0-679-72295-5

Extended excerpt [Fiction – character ‘Murray’ to the narrator]:

“Murray said, I don’t trust anybody’s nostalgia but my own. Nostalgia is a product of dissatisfaction and rage. It’s a settling of grievances between the present and the past. The more powerful the nostalgia, the closer you come to violence. War is the form nostalgia takes when men are hard-pressed to say something good about their country.” (p. 246)

Source: Library – White Noise (1985|1999 Penguin Books edition) International Standard Book Number (ISBN) 978-0-14-028330-3