돈 드릴로의 『마오 II』에 나타난 개인성, 테러리즘, 군중심리

Abstract

This paper examines the critical tension between individuality and collectivity in Don DeLillo’s 1991 novel Mao II. While DeLillo sharpens his critique of Western capitalist homogenization and the American mass mind in Mao II, the novel fails to provide a meaningful exploration of the shared ideological mechanisms linking the loss of individuality endemic to terrorist ideology and to the conformist tendencies of Western postmodern subjects. Instead, anxiety about the potential obliteration of individuality leads Mao II to renounce collectivity altogether, which it depicts as a mere ‘crowd’ associated exclusively with the non-American and the non-Western. The individuality portrayed in Mao II expresses its identity and autonomy at the cost of extreme solitude, rejecting any possibility of connection or solidarity with others. Such a self-enclosed, self-referential concept of individuality, which is explicitly advocated by the protagonist Bill, offers no viable solution to the crisis of Western democracy diagnosed by the novel. This paper argues that the novel’s limitations stem from DeLillo’s inability to imagine alternative forms of freedom, individuality, and collectivity.