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Oblivion signals that Wallace, while still holding work to be sacred, has largely given up his faith in the powers of the Protestant call to work that echoed throughout his writing up through Infinite Jest. Less prominent in Oblivion and after is the writer who allegorizes work in terms of Le…

[...] Wallace did not sign the story initially, using the pseudonym Eliabeth Klemm, his new attempt to write as a "NOBODY". [...]

Why does work often feel futile in a postmodern and neoliberal society? Why do even many highly rewarding jobs seem dehumanizing and attenuating amid superabundant wealth and leisure? Philip Mirowski argues, "Not only does neoliberalism deconstruct any special status for human labor, but"--in terms…

[...] In "(I)" a reader can get away with disdain for Jeni and her shallowness, but "(II)" makes palpable what Smith observes: "If one is used to the consolation of 'character,' ... Wallace is truly a dead end. His stories [are] turned outward, toward us. It's our character that's being investiga…

[...] Many times, to Kafkaesque comic effect, the story adds "(i.e., the depressed person)" after pronouns that already clearly identify her (i.e., the depressed person--you get the gag) (BI 50, e.g.). [...]