85
"Then Out of the Rubble": David Foster Wallace's Early Fiction
13
terms
1
notes
eschatology
(en)
the part of theology concerned with death, judgment, and the final destiny of the soul and of humankind
86
Referring at once to the persistence of eschatological discourse despite the failure of the prophesied apocalypse ever to arrive
unknown
7 years, 1 month ago
Referring at once to the persistence of eschatological discourse despite the failure of the prophesied apocalypse ever to arrive
unknown
7 years, 1 month ago
reifying
(en)
make (something abstract) more concrete or real
87
the reifying shackles of apocalyptic discourse
uncertain
7 years, 1 month ago
the reifying shackles of apocalyptic discourse
uncertain
7 years, 1 month ago
semiotics
(en)
the study of signs and symbols and their use or interpretation (adj: semiotic)
88
liminal
(en)
ambiguous; occupying a position at, or on both sides of, a boundary or threshold
88
she is a liminal horizon the novel repetitively posits
uncertain
7 years, 1 month ago
she is a liminal horizon the novel repetitively posits
uncertain
7 years, 1 month ago
immanence
(en)
philosophical and metaphysical theories of divine presence in which the divine encompasses or is manifested in the material world
90
first encountered recently (in a DFW-related book I think)
confirm
7 years, 1 month ago
first encountered recently (in a DFW-related book I think)
confirm
7 years, 1 month ago
aporia
(en)
(noun) an expression of real or pretended doubt or uncertainty especially for rhetorical effect / (noun) a logical impasse or contradiction / (noun) a radical contradiction in the import of a text or theory that is seen in deconstruction as inevitable
92
how they manifest in the aporia between self and other
unknown
7 years, 1 month ago
how they manifest in the aporia between self and other
unknown
7 years, 1 month ago
eminently
(en)
to a notable degree; very
93
arche
(grk)
beginning
95
telos
(en)
(noun) an ultimate end (from Greek)
95
fugue state
(en)
rare psychiatric disorder characterized by reversible amnesia for personal identity, including the memories, personality, and other identifying characteristics of individuality
96
superego
(en)
ethical component of the personality and provides the moral standards by which the ego operates (acc to Sigmund Freud)
97
unheimlich
(de)
uncanny (used by Freud)
97
Arnoldian
(en)
of or relating to Matthew Arnold (1822–1888), British poet and cultural critic who celebrated virtue
99
104
[...] I believe that "Westward"'s fictional project should instead be read as, if not as accomplishing, then at least pointing toward a relationship to irony that is anti-eschatological, that acknowledges irony's fundamental "temporality that is not organic," and that it "allows for no end, for no totality." In other words, Wallace's mode of getting metafiction's Armageddon-explosion "over with," is based on an acknowlegment that not only can there not be such an explosion, but that the whole aesthetic approach that privileges such an eschatology is not only problematic, but threatening. [...]
[...] I believe that "Westward"'s fictional project should instead be read as, if not as accomplishing, then at least pointing toward a relationship to irony that is anti-eschatological, that acknowledges irony's fundamental "temporality that is not organic," and that it "allows for no end, for no totality." In other words, Wallace's mode of getting metafiction's Armageddon-explosion "over with," is based on an acknowlegment that not only can there not be such an explosion, but that the whole aesthetic approach that privileges such an eschatology is not only problematic, but threatening. [...]