The Fictional and Nonfictional Life of Lee Oswald in Libra
Don DeLillo's Libra follows the highly controversial, conspiracy-ridden story of President John F. Kennedy's assassination by Lee Harvey Oswald. It is a quintessential work of historical fiction, with many elements of well-documented history blended seamlessly with fictional augmentation and supposition where holes in the documented record reside. Particularly, it covers the unpredictable character of Lee Oswald. There is no doubt that Oswald had a very strange life. Much of the covered events in Libra are well-documented, real events - his service in the Marine Corps, his court-martial after shooting himself, his defection to the Soviet Union, and his subsequent suicide attempt, selling of national secrets, and his defection back to the United States. Many characters, such as George de Mohrenschildt and Jack Ruby, were real and known to have interacted with Lee. His pot-shot at General Walker is extremely likely to have actually happened. Lee did in...