Irony, Narcissism, and Affect in David Foster Wallace's Infinite Jest

What is it about?

This paper builds an alternative to the critical paradigm in works on David Foster Wallace that posit affectless irony as his central predicament. I examine studies that problematize the notion that irony is affectless and argue that Wallace's characters reside in a double-bind of distance and closeness with regard to the other. With this in mind, I conclude that any ‘resolutions’ to affectless irony are better approached as mitigations of this double-bind.

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Photo by Moises Alex on Unsplash

Photo by Moises Alex on Unsplash

Why is it important?

The paper overturns a dominant position in studies on David Foster Wallace and suggests a new way to think the central predicament in his work. It aims to provide an alternative to the long-standing opposition between irony and affect in Wallace studies.