Existentialist Engagement in Wallace, Eggers and Foer: A Philosophical Analysis of Contemporary American Literature PDF
Preview Existentialist Engagement in Wallace, Eggers and Foer: A Philosophical Analysis of Contemporary American Literature
Existentialist Engagement in Wallace, Eggers and Foer Existentialist Engagement in Wallace, Eggers and Foer A Philosophical Analysis of Contemporary American Literature Allard den Dulk Bloomsbury Academic An imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing Inc Bloomsbury Academic An imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing Inc 1385 Broadway 50 Bedford Square New York London NY 10018 WC1B 3DP USA UK www.bloomsbury.com BLOOMSBURY and the Diana logo are trademarks of Bloomsbury Publishing Plc First published 2015 Paperback edition fi rst published 2016 © Allard den Dulk, 2015 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any information storage or retrieval system, without prior permission in writing from the publishers. No responsibility for loss caused to any individual or organization acting on or refraining from action as a result of the material in this publication can be accepted by Bloomsbury or the author. Infi nite Jest by David Foster Wallace. Copyright © 1996 by David Foster Wallace. By permission of Little, Brown and Company. All rights reserved. Signifi cant parts of Chapter 2 , 5 and 6 have appeared in, respectively: Studies in the Novel 44.3 (2012), 325–345; P hilosophy and Literature and the Crisis of Metaphysics , edited by Sébastian Hüsch (Würzburg: Verlag Königshausen & Neumann, 2011), 343–358; and G esturing Toward Reality: David Foster Wallace and Philosophy , edited by Robert K. Bolger and Scott Korb (New York: Bloomsbury, 2014), 205–227. The author has made substantial changes and additions for this book. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Dulk, Allard den, 1978– author. Existentialist engagement in Wallace, Eggers and Foer : a philosophical analysis of contemporary American literature / Allard den Dulk. pages cm Summary: “A philosophical analysis of existentialist themes in the fi ction of Wallace, Eggers and Foer”— Provided by publisher. Includes bibliographical references. ISBN 978-1-62892-331-5 (hardback) 1. American fi ction–21st century–History and criticism. 2. Wallace, David Foster– Criticism and interpretation. 3. Eggers, Dave–Criticism and interpretation. 4. Foer, Jonathan Safran, 1977– Everything is illuminated. 5. Existentialism in literature. 6. Literature–Philosophy. 7. Postmodernism (Literature)–United States. 8. Irony in literature. I. Title. PS374.E9D85 2014 813.009’384—dc23 2014021584 ISBN: HB: 978-1-6289-2331-5 PB: 978-1-5013-2267-9 ePub: 978-1-6289-2333-9 ePDF: 978-1-6289-2334-6 Typeset by Newgen Knowledge Works (P) Ltd., Chennai, India Printed and bound in Great Britain Contents List of Abbreviations ix Foreword: ‘Love Me till My Heart Stops’ xi Introduction 1 Aims and method 1 An ‘aesthetic sea-change’ in American literature 4 Outline of primary literary works 9 Heuristic perspectives 1 5 Outline of the study 1 8 Part 1 23 Problems 25 1 Hyperrefl exivity 2 6 Introduction 2 6 Factors of heightened contemporary refl exivity 2 8 Sartre’s view of consciousness and self-refl ection 3 5 Th e alienation of self-refl ection 4 1 Conclusion 59 2 Endless Irony 6 0 Introduction 6 0 Irony as an attitude towards existence 6 2 Irony as negative independence 6 6 Endless ‘aesthetic’ irony 7 1 Meta-irony 80 Conclusion 84 Problematic Fiction 87 3 Postmodernist Metafi ction: John Barth 8 8 Introduction 8 8 Metafi ction 90 vi Contents Deconstruction and metafi ction 9 3 Conclusion 108 4 Postmodernist Minimalism: Bret Easton Ellis 109 Introduction 1 09 General comparison 111 Four aspects of the escalation of ironic-aesthetic existence 1 15 A continuation of refl exive irony 1 25 Conclusion 127 Part 2 129 Engaged Fiction 1 31 5 Wittgenstein and Wallace: Th e Meaning of Fiction 132 Introduction 1 32 Wittgenstein: Th e temptation of essences 1 33 Wittgenstein: Th e irrelevance of essences 1 37 Th e virtues of the late-Wittgensteinian language view 145 A late-Wittgensteinian view of fi ction 1 54 Conclusion 160 Engagement 1 61 6 Sincerity 1 62 Introduction 1 62 Sincerity versus authenticity 1 63 Sincerity: A Sartrean, existentialist ideal 170 Case studies of sincerity: Th e fi ction of Wallace, Eggers and Foer 179 Conclusion 194 7 Reality-Commitment 197 Introduction 1 97 Th e realization of choice: Freedom, despair, urgency 198 Th e reality of the self as gift and task 2 06 Reality as repetition 213 Conclusion 225 8 Community 2 29 Introduction 2 29 Contents vii Absurdity and rebellion: Two main themes of Camus’s thought 2 30 Th e role of the other: Kierkegaard and Sartre versus Camus 2 34 Discovering the other: Wallace, Eggers and Foer 239 Towards a dialogic community of meaning 250 Conclusion 259 Concluding Remarks 261 Literature and philosophy 261 Existentialist engagement 2 64 Love me till my heart stops? 268 Acknowledgements 2 69 Works Cited 2 71 Index 2 89
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