Title
David Foster Wallace's balancing books : fictions of value / Jeffrey Severs.
ISBN
9780231179447 (cloth : acid-free paper)
9780231543118 (electronic book)
Published
New York : Columbia University Press, [2017]
Copyright
©2017
Language
English
Description
1 online resource (324 pages)
Call Number
PS3573.A425635 Z864 2017
Dewey Decimal Classification
813/.54
Summary
"Jeffrey Severs offers one of the first critical works that examines the entirety of David Foster Wallace's fiction rather than individual novels. Severs focuses his interpretation of Wallace's work on the author's interest in "value" understood in terms of the incalculable (morality) and the calculable (economics). This approach, Severs argues, allows a reading of Wallace that illuminates both the philosophical and moral ambition of his work but also positions him as a writer very much engaged in the political and economic issues of the late twentieth century. Severs reads Wallace as depicting characters struggling to determine the moral authority amid our chaotic culture. In considering the full scope of Wallace's career, Severs details his works' quest for balance in a world of excess and entropy. He adds to the critical portrayal of him as the philosopher-novelist by reading him as not only satirizing the deforming effects of money but examining the machinations of late-capitalism. Fusing readings of metaphysical, existential, and moral themes within the historical context of the last twentieth century, Severs provides new perspectives on Wallace's work and demonstrates the relevance of his fiction to contemporary political, economic, moral, and ethical problems."-- Provided by publisher.
Bibliography, etc. Note
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Access Note
Access limited to authorized users.
Source of Description
Description based on print version record.
Introduction: a living transaction: value, ground, and balancing books
Come to work: capitalist fantasies and the quest for balance in the broom of the system
New deals: (the) depression and devaluation in the early stories
Dei gratia: work ethic, grace, and giving in infinite jest
Other math: human costs, fractional selves, and neoliberal crisis in brief interviews with hideous men
His capital flush: despairing over work and value in oblivion
E pluribus unum: ritual, currency, and the embodied values of the pale king
Conclusion: in line for the cash register with Wallace.
