David Foster Wallace’s (1962-2008) writing is situated at the intersections of literature, philosophy, television, cinema, popular culture, postmodernism, and social criticism. The author of the 1079-page masterpiece, Infinite Jest, Wallace explores the human experience through the ethos of the American dream, exposing and challenging its illusory seductions and their concomitant tendencies toward addiction and self-destruction, with a rare mixture of fearlessness and insight. His work thus continues to provide invaluable provocation on the questions of who we are, and who we can be.
2018 Annual Conference
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American Studies
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panel