| Ratner's Star | |
| Author: | Don DeLillo |
| Country: | United States |
| Language: | English |
| Genre: | Science fiction novel |
| Publisher: | Alfred A. Knopf |
| Release Date: | June 1976 |
| Media Type: | Print (hardback) |
| Pages: | 438 pp (hardback first edition) |
| Isbn: | 0-394-40083-6 |
Ratner's Star is a 1976 novel by Don DeLillo. It relates the story of a child prodigy mathematician who arrives at a secret installation to work on the problem of deciphering a mysterious message that appears to come from outer space. The novel has been described as "famously impenetrable".[1]
The novel is described as Menippean satire and akin to the works of Thomas Pynchon.[2] In critical reviews, the protagonist, Billy Twillig, is compared to Vonnegut's Billy Pilgrim.[3]
The novel is told in two parts; the first is a conventional narrative, the second is less so. The author has said that the structural model was Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass.[4] The novel develops the idea that science, mathematics, and logic—in parting from mysticism—do not contain the fear of death, and therefore offer no respite.