Underworld is a postmodernist novel by Don DeLillo written in multigenerational form, beginning with the Giants and the Dodger's game in 1951 and ending with the story of the properly postmodern marriage of Nick and Marian Shay. There is also a direct allusion to the "Cloud of Unknowing" from early Christian mysticism which helps to bring focus to the directionless novel.
The meaning of a novel that seems to defy meaning is uneasy to draw, but this book in particular seems to have narrative features that help. For one, the comedian Lenny Bruce's account of the current times provides a chorus-like view of Cold War America, both from a political and an entertainment view. The other narrative stories allow for an analytical perspective surrounding marriage, art and philosophy in a postmodernist world.
