Existentialist Engagement in Wallace, Eggers and Foer

Download or read book Existentialist Engagement in Wallace, Eggers and Foer written by Allard den Dulk and published by Bloomsbury Publishing USA. This book was released on 2016-06-30 with total page 321 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The novels of David Foster Wallace, Dave Eggers and Jonathan Safran Foer are increasingly regarded as representing a new trend, an 'aesthetic sea change' in contemporary American literature. 'Post-postmodernism' and 'New Sincerity' are just two of the labels that have been attached to this trend. But what do these labels mean? What characterizes and connects these novels? Den Dulk shows that the connection between these works lies in their shared philosophical dimension. On the one hand, they portray excessive self-reflection and endless irony as the two main problems of contemporary Western life. On the other hand, the novels embody an attempt to overcome these problems: sincerity, reality-commitment and community are portrayed as the virtues needed to achieve a meaningful life. This shared philosophical dimension is analyzed by viewing the novels in light of the existentialist philosophies of S�ren Kierkegaard, Jean-Paul Sartre, Ludwig Wittgenstein and Albert Camus.