What did David Foster Wallace do?

What did David Foster Wallace do?

David Foster Wallace, (born February 21, 1962, Ithaca, New York, U.S.—died September 12, 2008, Claremont, California), American novelist, short-story writer, and essayist whose dense works provide a dark, often satirical analysis of American culture. Wallace was the son of a philosophy professor and an English teacher.

What is David Foster Wallace’s style?

Writing Style Most of David Foster Wallace’s writing is centered on moving beyond irony and metafiction often found in postmodernism literature. He uses several forms of irony, but also aimed to focus on an individual’s desire to have honest, unselfconscious experiences.

Where did David Foster Wallace teach?

Emerson College
Wallace grew up in Illinois and attended Amherst College. He taught English at Emerson College, Illinois State University, and Pomona College. In 2008, he died by suicide at age 46 after struggling with depression for many years.

Why is David Foster Wallace considered a postmodern writer?

In a postmodern culture, Wallace’s characters know the world based on their experience of TV, which is nothing new, but nonetheless the fact that his characters reside in a televisual world remains important to the understanding of his life’s work.

Why did David Foster Wallace wear the bandana?

He first donned the bandanna during his time in Tucson to keep his sweat from dripping onto the paper he was writing on.

What is postmodern irony?

In their view, postmodernist irony is a form of blank parody, a cannibalization of old styles that is not inspired by a genuine historicism and ultimately turns cultural tradition into a set of dusty spectacles deprived of any value and unable to add meaning to the present.

What is infinite jerk?

Infinite jerk over an instant of time is an idealization, just like infinite force over an instant of time is sometimes used to characterize an elastic collision between two objects.

What is a lit bro?

A Lit-Bro is that guy in your English course: loquacious, eager to impress, and probably has some anachronistic method of carrying his books, like a briefcase. Rather than reading for enjoyment or enlightenment, Lit-Bros treat reading as a means to show off how smart and cultured they are.

What is hyper irony?

Hyper-irony is the comedic instantiation of the cult of knowingness. Given the crisis of authority, there are no higher purposes to which comedy can be put, such as moral instruction, theological revelation, or showing how the world is.