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Existentialist Engagement in Wallace, Eggers and Foer: A Philosophical Analysis of Contemporary American Literature
by Allard Pieter den Dulk
May 23, 2017 - May 27, 2017 (read/literary-criticism/david-foster-wallace)

Pieter den Dulk, A. (2014). Existentialist Engagement in Wallace, Eggers and Foer: A Philosophical Analysis of Contemporary American Literature. Bloomsbury Academic.


Bloomsbury Academic, 2014. 320 pages. Hardcover. 9781628923315

25 37
11

p.235
spidsborger »
philistine
p.205
apriority »
(philosophy) The quality or state of being known …
p.192
anaclitic »
(adjective) of, relating to, or characterized by …
p.185
dialectic »
a discourse between two or more people holding di…
p.172
apodictic »
(adjective) expressing or of the nature of necess…
p.260
I write because I want to end my loneliness
I write because I want to end my loneliness. Book…
p.252
AA as communal suffering
Through this experience of communal suffering, AA…
p.248
sculpting through fiction a powerful human presen…
Holland describes 'Octet' as 'sculpting through f…
p.231
Camus on absurdity
The absurd is not a quality of man or of the worl…
p.219
boredom is the only continuity the ironist has
The aesthete is afraid of being bored, tries ferv…

xi

Foreword: 'Love Me till My Heart Stops'

(the quote is from some graffiti he sees on Valencia Street)

about sincerity, and community, and love, and how that's found in the novels of Wallace, Eggers, and Foer

1 / 1
xi

Foreword: 'Love Me till My Heart Stops'

(the quote is from some graffiti he sees on Valencia Street)

about sincerity, and community, and love, and how that's found in the novels of Wallace, Eggers, and Foer

1 / 1
1

Introduction

DFW as leading the vanguard of discontent with the endless irony of American culture, and Eggers and Foer as following in his footsteps

3 / 2
1

Introduction

DFW as leading the vanguard of discontent with the endless irony of American culture, and Eggers and Foer as following in his footsteps

3 / 2
26

Hyperreflexivity

hyperreflexivity as emblematic of contemporary Western life. some factors, acc. to Anthony Giddens in Modernity and Self-Identity:

  • living in a post-traditional order
  • pluralisation of life-worlds (being exposed to different cultures)
  • contextual nature of warranted beliefs (can no longer intuitively trust authorities)
  • prevalence of mediated experience (TV, newspapers, etc)
  • transformation of intimacy (esp sexual, since people have more choices)

Sartre's view of consciousness: transcendence and facticity, becoming a self, the alienation of self-reflection, solipsism

6 / 4
26

Hyperreflexivity

hyperreflexivity as emblematic of contemporary Western life. some factors, acc. to Anthony Giddens in Modernity and Self-Identity:

  • living in a post-traditional order
  • pluralisation of life-worlds (being exposed to different cultures)
  • contextual nature of warranted beliefs (can no longer intuitively trust authorities)
  • prevalence of mediated experience (TV, newspapers, etc)
  • transformation of intimacy (esp sexual, since people have more choices)

Sartre's view of consciousness: transcendence and facticity, becoming a self, the alienation of self-reflection, solipsism

6 / 4
60

Endless Irony

mostly about Kierkegaard's theories on irony and how they're echoed in Wallace/Eggers. also how verbal irony is different from existential irony

2 / 4
60

Endless Irony

mostly about Kierkegaard's theories on irony and how they're echoed in Wallace/Eggers. also how verbal irony is different from existential irony

2 / 4
88

Postmodernist Metafiction: John Barth

about Barth's problematic metafiction, analysed in light of Derrida's strategy of deconstruction

4 / 7
88

Postmodernist Metafiction: John Barth

about Barth's problematic metafiction, analysed in light of Derrida's strategy of deconstruction

4 / 7
109

Postmodernist Minimialism: Bret Easton Ellis

on why Bret Easton Ellis' work is empty and pointless (just the ironic-aesthetic attitude wrought on paper); American Psycho is compared to 'The Seducer's Diary' in Kierkegaard's Either/Or

0 / 1
109

Postmodernist Minimialism: Bret Easton Ellis

on why Bret Easton Ellis' work is empty and pointless (just the ironic-aesthetic attitude wrought on paper); American Psycho is compared to 'The Seducer's Diary' in Kierkegaard's Either/Or

0 / 1
132

Wittgenstein and Wallace: The Meaning of Fiction

now we get into an explanation of Wittgenstein's views on language (which ofc DFW agreed with, at least the later views). on ostensive definitions, and private languages, and communal language structures as a cure for solipsism, and fiction as a source of paradigmatic cases for infusing language with meaning

3 / 5
132

Wittgenstein and Wallace: The Meaning of Fiction

now we get into an explanation of Wittgenstein's views on language (which ofc DFW agreed with, at least the later views). on ostensive definitions, and private languages, and communal language structures as a cure for solipsism, and fiction as a source of paradigmatic cases for infusing language with meaning

3 / 5
162

Sincerity

using the Sartrean concept of sincerity. the problem with the word 'authenticity' is that it implies one has a real self, which existentialism vehemently opposes (one has to create it, moment by moment). sincerity in literature as a way of being vulnerable, of trying to convey some meaning

4 / 3
162

Sincerity

using the Sartrean concept of sincerity. the problem with the word 'authenticity' is that it implies one has a real self, which existentialism vehemently opposes (one has to create it, moment by moment). sincerity in literature as a way of being vulnerable, of trying to convey some meaning

4 / 3
197

Reality-Commitment

overcoming irony and committing to reality through sincerity, examined in light of Kierkegaard's philosophy (the ethical life view, of responsibility and choice and transcendence)

1 / 6
197

Reality-Commitment

overcoming irony and committing to reality through sincerity, examined in light of Kierkegaard's philosophy (the ethical life view, of responsibility and choice and transcendence)

1 / 6
229

Community

mostly drawing from Camus in this chapter, though Sartre and Kierkegaard play a small role again. on rebellion and community

1 / 4
229

Community

mostly drawing from Camus in this chapter, though Sartre and Kierkegaard play a small role again. on rebellion and community

1 / 4
261

Concluding Remarks

the overlap between literature and philosophy (note that the philosophers mentioned are all literary philosophers). the value of sincere, solution-offering, irony-rejecting literary works like those by Wallace/Eggers/Foer as paradigmatic cases to help one deal with the challenges of contemporary existence.

0 / 0
261

Concluding Remarks

the overlap between literature and philosophy (note that the philosophers mentioned are all literary philosophers). the value of sincere, solution-offering, irony-rejecting literary works like those by Wallace/Eggers/Foer as paradigmatic cases to help one deal with the challenges of contemporary existence.

0 / 0