Wallace After Postmodernism (Again): Metamodernism, Tone, Tennis
Abstract
David Foster Wallace’s writing has come to be synonymous with post-postmodernism. Strategies that are often singled out in this respect include the return to epic forms of storytelling; a post-ironic attitude towards its subject matter; a concern with empathy and affective generosity; and an ambiguous but reinvigorated relationship of language to ‘reality’. In this essay I consider some of these in the context of visual art. The aim is less to map one onto another, detailing how much they have in common, than it is to tease out some of the differences between them so as to pinpoint Wallace’s position on post-postmodernism’s cognitive map across the disciplines.
Presentato: 18 Ottobre 2021 | Accettato: 26 Novembre 2021 | Pubblicato 16 Marzo 2022 | Lingua: en
Keywords Art • David Foster Wallace • Metamodernism • Identity • Post-irony • Tennis
Copyright © 2021 Timotheus Vermeulen. This is an open-access work distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction is permitted, provided that the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. The license allows for commercial use. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
Permalink http://doi.org/10.30687/EL/2420-823X/2021/08/006