Abstract EN:

Don DeLillo's use of lists is analysed here from a rhetorical perspective. A critical reading of existing works on the subject leads to a definition of the list as a paradigmatic parallelism. "Inventory lists" allow DeLillo to give voice to the semiotic frenzy present in the universe of his novels. This frenzy is at the origin of the characters' epistemological crises, crises they try to resolve by instrumentalising enumerative language as a tool for ordering their existence. Language's resistance to being invested with a stable and authoritative meaning result in "heteroglossic lists", where the polyphony of language is foregrounded. Tension in DeLillo's novels between two opposing conceptions of history and narration is most visible in "narrative lists". Narrative lists show the disparate nature of narrative moments while at the same time uniting them in a common logic. Finally, "archetype lists" destabilise the idea of authentic experience in DeLillo's novels.