ENG 332: Contemporary American Literature

This book counteracts the vision of Wallace's postmodern oeuvre as selfishly self-absorbed, narcissistic, or confining, and it attempts to answer the question of its appeal. Prominent scholars explore varieties of otherness in Wallace's oeuvre by engaging with the dialogue his writing establishes with non-literary discourses, such as cinema, music, religion, and philosophy.

Jeffrey Severs offers one of the first critical works that examines the entirety of David Foster Wallace's fiction rather than individual novels. Severs focuses his interpretation of Wallace's work on the author's interest in "value" understood in terms of the incalculable and the calculable. This approach, Severs argues, allows a reading of Wallace that illuminates both the philosophical and moral ambition of his work but also positions him as a writer very much engaged in political and economic issues.

In David Foster Wallace: Fiction and Form, David Hering analyses the structures of David Foster Wallace's fiction, from his debut The Broom of the System to his final unfinished novel The Pale King. Incorporating extensive analysis of Wallace's drafts, notes and letters, and taking account of the rapidly expanding field of Wallace scholarship, this book argues that the form of Wallace's fiction is always inextricably bound up within an ongoing conflict between the monologic and the dialogic.

The Gospel According to David Foster Wallace is the first book to explore key religious themes in the work of one of America's most celebrated contemporary novelists. In a series of short, topic-focused chapters, the book joins a selection of key scenes from Wallace's novels Infinite Jest and The Pale King with clear explanations of how they contribute to his overall account of what it means to be a human being in the 21st century.

American novelist, essayist, and short story writer David Foster Wallace was known for his experimental writing style influenced by contemporary American culture. Essays from his most noted works, including his critically acclaimed novel, Infinite Jest, survey the various themes that appear in his work such as his exploration of philosophy, meta-fiction, satire, psychology, and the irony of postmodernism.

In a sweeping portrait of Wallace's writing and thought and as a measure of his importance in literary history, The Legacy of David Foster Wallace gathers cutting-edge, field-defining scholarship by critics alongside remembrances by many of his writer friends, who include some of the world's most influential authors. In this elegant volume, literary critics scrutinize the existing Wallace scholarship and at the same time pioneer new ways of understanding Wallace's fiction and journalism.