James Wood suggested the term "hysterical realism"
on DFW's writing style. she thinks "radical realism" (via Tom LeClair) is better
[...] Wallace distances himself falely from a group in order to establish a relationship wtih the reader. This tactic is more complex--and often less successful--in the scholarly writing, because, as shown here, Wallace frequently is an expert in what he writes about. With that in min, such dista…
lallating function
originally from the Kafka essay
While lightly dismissing the "magazine people" as disingenuous, Wallace draws paralliptical attention to his own disingenuousness in writing the piece at all.
in the cruise essay
This repeated abnegation of qualification is one of many figurations of a deeply problematic tendency to reject ideas of authority and authorship throughout the nonfiction, in ways that dovetail interestingly with the structural and vocal instability of the fiction.
on DFW's tendency to say that he's not a journalist (Conversations 83, Up Simba)
