Directory of Unwanted Calls

I started reading Don DeLillo's Great Jones Street, a novel originally published in 1973. I admire DeLillo's writing style, which reflects his ear for how people speak American English. He also puts into a thoughtful framework some ways in which his characters immerse themselves in their own illusions and those of others. When I read a DeLillo work, I pay better attention to some of the curiosities that animate our everyday world.

This alertness to language led me to note a phrase I discovered during an online search for some business information. Someone created a website whose subtitle involved forming a "directory of unwanted calls." The phrase immediately fascinated me, even if the site's execution was disappointing. This concept seemed straight from a world DeLillo might have invented. It has a balance of fascination, loathing, and fear that DeLillo explores in his novels. The directory's bureaucratic tone and link to familiar experience gives it an edgy feeling.

I'm not advocating starting a similar type of directory. I do suggest that reading DeLillo is good for one's perspective.