Generation Magazine

By Josh Q. Newman

Don DeLillo’s new book, “Point Omega,” is a concise exercise in theoretical reasoning, metaphysical axioms, and existential bivouacking. If you didn’t understand the first sentence, then you won’t understand “Point Omega.” And if you thought the sentence didn’t make sense, then you’re in good company. It didn’t.

Neither, at first glance, does DeLillo’s novella. While his prose is as always extraordinary and gorgeously rendered, DeLillo depicts the convoluted as if it were a bike ride: easy and accessible. The title itself refers to French philosopher Pierre Teilhard de Chardin’s term for the ever-evolving universal consciousness. DeLillo expects the reader to follow him and his feckless characters to the edge of the universe, expounding philosophical enigmas through wry conversations and dry narrative. That’s not to say that books shouldn’t be complex. However, in this case, DeLillo narrows his audience to the breaking point, making the reader unsure of what exactly he or she read.

“Point Omega,” 117 pages long, follows the troubled but brilliant intellectual Richard Elster in a peculiar stage of his life. Long considered a scholar, Elster was called on by the Pentagon during the Iraq war to apply his skills in areas like troop deployment, counter-insurgency, tactical necessity, etc. Elster claimed he was privy to top-secret documents and military personnel. It’s unclear why the military would want a scholar in metaphysics, but Elster’s experience has clearly left a mark on him. After his service he secludes himself deep in the California desert, spending his days cooking and thinking about the areas of life long pondered by wiser men.

Later on, Jim Finley, an independent filmmaker who wants to make Elster his next project, accompanies him. Of course, nothing happens. Only when Elster’s daughter Jessica comes by to visit do the two men produce something beyond comprehension. And when something happens to Jessica, all three of them are thrown off base into a realm that they knew was coming.

Make no mistake: “Point Omega” is a deeply philosophical novel. It is essentially plot-less and relies heavily on Elster’s whimsical ramblings. Everything that comes out of Elster’s mouth—every question he answers, every creed he gives—flies above the head of the reader like a stealth bomber. Take, for example, his response to Finley’s curiosity about his role in the Pentagon:

I talked to [the military] one day about war. Iraq is a whisper, I told them. These nuclear flirtations we’ve been having with this or that government. Little whispers…Something’s coming. But isn’t that what we want? Isn’t this the burden of consciousness? We’ve all played out. Matter wants to lose its self-consciousness. We’re in the mind and heart that matter has become. Time to close it all down. This is what drives us now.

A little drunk, Elster is.

Elster is a fascinating character. He has the weird resonance of Dr. Strangelove and the tenacity of Galileo. Listening to him will make you feel like you’ve won the Nobel Prize in any category. Intellectuals have a reputation of being boring, both in what they say and generally in who they are, yet Elster breaks out of the stereotype with a considerable amount of humor, a product of his eccentric lifestyle and thinking. If Descartes was right, then Elster should be the president. He is that cerebral.

But DeLillo sets up a danger that is not quite rectified in the text. And that is to take Elster’s dialogue like the word of God. DeLillo, who took the title and main ideas of the novel from a Jesuit thinker, isn’t particularly religious. God’s name is not evoked in the novel, or at least not enough to be noticeable. At face value a reader might consider Elster’s theories as the next best thing since Nietzsche. There isn’t much resistance to Elster’s theories to provide an antithesis. That may not be needed in every book but Elster is the kind of guy that should be challenged and not be taken straight up.

As for the big picture, the omega point, DeLillo both expounds on the idea and throws it away. “Point Omega” is one of his least accessible books. He doesn’t provide context, requiring the reader to find it out on his or her own. Philosophy majors may get a kick out of it, but otherwise the book is a bit elusive. DeLillo probably wanted it that way. Late in his career, DeLillo can pretty much do what he wants and get praised for it—his novels have gotten progressively shorter over the years. The idea that human consciousness has reached an acme that will either fail or reach something even higher beyond all possible comprehension—a “2001: A Space Odyssey”-like scenario—is not impossible, but certainly not easy, to grasp. De Chardin did it successfully but DeLillo, despite his talent in writing prose, does it so abstractly that it doesn’t quite carry over.

“Point Omega” is still a good book but until the omega point is reached, we will have to settle for Elster’s gentle speeches and Finley’s weak observations. For someone who worked at the Pentagon, Elster doesn’t believe in straight lines.

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