Understanding David Foster Wallace

Understanding David Foster Wallace is a seminal text in the field of David Foster Wallace studies, providing an accessible introduction to his themes and formal innovations. This revised edition adds two new chapters covering his final story collection, Oblivion, and his posthumous novel, The Pale King. Boswell argues that Wallace should be regarded as the nervous leader of a third wave of modernism, moving forward while hoisting the baggage of modernism and postmodernism heavily but respectfully on its back.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 168 pages
Publication date: 30 October 2020
Publisher: University of South Carolina Press

Understanding David Foster Wallace has emerged as a comprehensive and accessible entry point into the diverse range of themes and formal innovations that have propelled Wallace's fiction to widespread acclaim and significant influence since its publication in 2003. Serving as a seminal text in the burgeoning field of David Foster Wallace studies, the original edition of Understanding David Foster Wallace was, nonetheless, incomplete, as it solely focused on his initial four works of fiction, namely the novels The Broom of the System, Infinite Jest, and the story collections Girl with Curious Hair and Brief Interviews with Hideous Men. This revised edition expands upon the original content by incorporating two new chapters that explore his final story collection, Oblivion, as well as his posthumous novel, The Pale King.

Through a meticulous examination of Wallace's relationship with modernism and postmodernism, this volume offers in-depth analyses of all his major works of fiction. While some critics may categorize Wallace as a postmodern writer, Boswell contends that he deserves to be recognized as the nervous leader of a yet-to-be-named (and perhaps unnamable) third wave of modernism. By charting a new direction for literary practice, Wallace does not aim to undermine postmodernism or advocate a return to modernism. Instead, his work progresses resolutely forward, while carrying the weight of modernism and postmodernism with considerable respect.

Similar to the books that serve as the primary focus of Boswell's study, it directly addresses complex concepts such as postmodernism, information theory, semiotics, the philosophy of Ludwig Wittgenstein, and poststructuralism. However, the author achieves this in a manner that is accessible to a broad and general readership, the same audience that has enthusiastically embraced Wallace's challenging yet entertaining and redemptive fiction.

Weight: 266g
Dimension: 152 x 228 x 15 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781643360690
Edition number: 2 Revised edition