LIBRA AND SEVEN SECONDS OF OSWALD'S IDENTITY

Abstract

The question of identity within the context of contemporary society, its formation and multiple layers, as well as the socio-cultural phenomena that contribute to its development, or to its possible de-evolution, represents one of Don DeLillo's major
preoccupations. A particularly interesting aspect of approaching the issue of identity can be observed within the novel Libra, in which the character of Lee Harvey Oswald is being created, shaped and manipulated according to the needs of different hidden
systems of power located at the heart of the American dream. His identity, in search of a fixed meaning and historical relevance, repeatedly adjusts itself to different narratives that lead inexorably to the "seven seconds that broke the backbone of the American century." The proposed reading, which takes the brutal assassination of John F. Kennedy as its starting and/or ending point, indicates through the analysis of the fictionalized character of Lee Harvey Oswald the existence of not only alternative forms of violence, but also of alternative historical narratives, whose function is to control, rewrite and ultimately conserve the construct of the American dream.