Influence_on_Popular_American_Culture

David Foster Wallace's Influence on Popular American Literature SOC/105 August 1, 2012 David Foster Wallace's Influence on Popular American Literature David Foster Wallace, an avant-garde of realistic fiction, was imaginative and humorous in his observations. In his best known 1996 novel Infinite Jest, he rhetorically describes his perception of a not-so-far-fetched-futuristic American society, a culture obsessed with pleasure, entertainment, and self. His parodic approach also brings to the forefront an assumption that the mass culture will follow a spoon fed path toward low standards, and simple pleasures (Fest, 2011). Wallace held many job titles; journalist, novelist, English professor, the list goes on. The most important title he held was cultural icon. Infinite Jest is presented in a multilayered fashion; the main plot revolves around a missing film that robs its viewers of their interest in life. These lifeless zombies live in a world where each year is marked by corporate subsidization, such as the ‘Year of Depends.’ Both are easily translated into the self-described addiction many Americans are faced with daily; consumerism. How far away are we really as a society willing to auction off its calendar year for naming rights or use entire state as a waste site in an effort to boost a fragile economy' The cultural values Wallace describes are usually associated with low culture; too much television watching, transsexuals, varying levels and types of drug addiction, the rehabilitation process, and terrorism (Tayler, 2008). Several backstories relay generalizations about the characters bringing their stories together into a terrorist plot to use the film to control society. It’s surprising his novel Brief Interviews with Hideous Men was made into a movie first. David Foster Wallace creates work for a reader that is both fun and challenging. He makes readers want to research and explore further to ensure a concise understanding of him. He shares his amusement in his readings of Shakespeare, Dostoevsky, and Kafka, which prods his readers into exploring these works for themselves. Grammatically and etymologically challenging, Wallace’s readers were sensitive to his solipsistic and ironic prose (Roberts, 2012). In his realistic approach, he was not afraid to raise moral questions he and his readers encounter in real life. An ambient similarity exists in his overall works where he effectively poses the same question, ‘How do I recognize that other people are as real as I am'’ Salon compares his prose to that of Hunter S. Thompson, in that both of them were more than happy to insert their commentary into their work but this makes some readers feel diverted from the main story line (Roberts, 2012). Both of them have a following of varying fans, from the ones who only read their non-fiction, to those who have only read that which made them famous. Wallace’s humor involved a lot of abbreviations and acronyms, which lead readers to the foot and endnotes, and sometimes notes within notes, making it difficult to describe but resulting in appreciated amusement nonetheless. None of the 388 endnotes in Infinite Jest were added to the 56-hour audio version because the publishers believed digressions in the endnotes would make an already complex story difficult to follow (Jauregui, 2012). A fan site exists has many useful recommendations to assist in the literary acrobatics prevalent in all of Wallace’s writing (not just Infinite Jest) (Valiunas, 2012). Arguably, Wallace’s fan base is definitely made up of the perseverant reader, not the casual. Since his suicide in 2008, Wallace’s writing has received a great amount of attention from both academic literaries, and people who read books from the bestseller listings. He was only 46 when he hung himself, and had been taking medication for depression for more than 20 years (Weber, 2008). Even now, it is difficult to discern how Wallace’s legacy will be remembered because he invented a way of seeing the world with an articulated, open-eyedness to both high and low brow topics, allowing him to discuss the way most people live life and not just the way a writer would perceive it (Weber, 2008) . Because of his death, it makes people wonder if his popularity is not just a cultish fad. Wallace’s works may not have the same popularity as the Harry Potter or Twilight lines, but all are just as culturally significant to their fans. In exploring contemporary themes, Wallace’s readers are able to identify with or understand his characters. Potter and Twilight had well developed characters, and gripping plots, but Wallace’s well-rounded, sympathetic characters came to life more because of their plausibility than the reader’s desire for them to be real. References Fest, B. J. (2011). Consider David Foster Wallace: Critical Essays edited by David Hering. Critical Quarterly, 53(2), 102-106. doi:10.1111/j.1467-8705.2011.01996.x Flood, A. (2009, June 22). David Foster Wallace biography snapped up by Viking. Retrieved from http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2009/jun/22/david-foster-wallace-biography Jauregui, A. (2012, April 20). David Foster Wallace's 'Infinite Jest' Is An Audiobook, Minus Endnotes (AUDIO). Retrieved from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/04/19/david-foster-wallace-infinite-jest-audiobook_n_1438711.html Roberts, D. B. (2012, February 20). Consider David Foster Wallace, Journalist. Retrieved from http://www.salon.com/topic/david_foster_wallace/ Tayler, C. (2008, September 19). Comic intelligence, truth-telling and ideals. Retrieved from http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2008/sep/20/fiction1'INTCMP=ILCNETTXT3487 Valiunas, A. (2012, February 10). King of Pain. Retrieved from http://www.claremont.org/publications/crb/id.1920/article_detail.asp Weber, B. (2008, September 14). David Foster Wallace, Influetial Writer, Dies at 46. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/15/books/15wallace.html