Papers by Matthew Alexander
Failure, Jun 22, 2017
In spite of two decades of critical analysis little attention is given to the female characters w... more In spite of two decades of critical analysis little attention is given to the female characters within. Delfino (2008) cites 'one or two strong [female] characters that cannot help but influence the male protagonists in the novel', without expanding upon this, whilst Freudenthal (2010) speaks of Wallace's female characters as having a 'political clout [that] goes no further than their domestic spheres'. Such failure on the part of critics leads to an incomplete consideration of Wallace's text. This paper sets about redressing the balance through a reading of Joelle van Dyne's character and Wallace's use of the veil, and the link that this has with an historical figure known for her donning of the veil: St. Teresa of Avila. Clare Hayes-Brady's recent work (2016) on 'failures' in Wallace's work will be used as a tool with which to analyse Joelle's/St. Teresa's inclusion in the text, and it will be argued that the issue of veiling, a practice that Hirschmann (1998) views as 'Other to most Westerners', helps to reveal the extent to which Wallace's female characters have indeed been overlooked by critics. In doing so, a new consideration of Wallace's texts may emerge.
Issue 24 (2017), May 29, 2017
Disenfranchised voices in Infinite Jest (1996) receive little critical attention. Clenette Hender... more Disenfranchised voices in Infinite Jest (1996) receive little critical attention. Clenette Henderson and yrstruly’s narratives raise issues of taboo subjects: child sexual abuse, drug-addiction, and prostitution. A close reading of their voices aims to break over twenty years of critical silence by exposing such taboos.
How is it that "rape culture" is viewed as being so prevalent when for over three decades many fe... more How is it that "rape culture" is viewed as being so prevalent when for over three decades many feminist and queer academics have problematized notions of "difference" based upon assumptions held around markers of sex and/or gender (Rubin, Butler, Sedgwick, et al)? Perhaps it is the perceived nature of discrimination implied by the terms associated with rape culture, where "woman" is always placed as the "victim," and "man" identified always as the "perpetrator" of such acts, that serves to reinforce such thinking. Equally, perhaps it is our own failure to engage with ideas that are anathematic to us simply because they speak of hate and intolerance. Consider David Foster Wallace’s Brief Interviews with Hideous Men (1999), a work that has received surprisingly little in the way of critical commentary, in spite of the fact that the self-titled stories within appear to give rise to extreme misogynistic thought. Indeed, whilst choosing not to engage with the more disturbing elements of this and other works by Wallace, many of his critics choose to focus on common, over-worked themes such as irony (Goerlandt, 2006; den Dulk, 2012), addiction (Freudenthal, 2010), freedom of choice (Jacobs, 2007), and philosophical arguments (Olsen, 1993). This paper will consider the ways in which Wallace's text problematizes notions of identity so routinely governed by seemingly un-problematized markers of sex and gender. Using close textual analysis of "Brief Interview #46" it is argued that Wallace engages with the notion of rape culture in a manner that raises interesting if uncomfortable questions. Indeed, the protagonist/antagonist of "BI #46" makes the reader hyper-aware of the prevalence of "knee-jerk" reactions to content that is not easy to consider (98). By doing so, we may find that rape culture rhetoric needs to be broadened to accommodate "myriad possible forms of sexual violence," and that rape culture is far more complex than we are led to believe (Malinen, 2013).
![Research paper thumbnail of Queer and Transgender Representation, and the Queering of Language in the Works of David Foster Wallace: So What [is] the Exact Pernt to that Like [?]](https://attachments.academia-assets.com/35807976/thumbnails/1.jpg)
The Luminary
Essentialist notions of gender, borne out of the ideology of identity politics, play a significan... more Essentialist notions of gender, borne out of the ideology of identity politics, play a significant role in determining what and how research materials are used in gender studies. Consider David Foster Wallace’s corpus. Much of the research that exists to date follows a hetero-normative line of enquiry, the bulk of it doing little to address Wallace’s repeated use of non-conventional gender representation in his works of fiction. Instead, critics focus on common, over-worked themes such as irony (Goerlandt; den Dulk), addiction (Freudenthal), freedom of choice (Jacobs), and philosophical arguments (Olsen). This paper considers Wallace’s use of queer and transgender, and Wallace’s ‘queering’ of language. By conducting a close textual analysis of Infinite Jest (1996) and Brief Interviews with Hideous Men (1999), attention is given to those moments in Wallace’s narratives that have been overlooked. Arguably, Wallace complicates issues of gender to such an extent that it becomes difficult to affix essentialist attributes to gendered roles, allowing for progressive debates to form. Studies in gender have largely been the domain of feminists and queer theorists thus far, and in spite of the dismantling of gender that has occurred within academia, little has changed out in the ‘real’ world where gender stereotypes thrive. Wallace’s corpus serves to take the reading of gender into popular culture, thereby widening the debate.
Book Reviews by Matthew Alexander
What Brief Interviews with Hideous Men can tell us about rape culture
A serial womaniser. A commitment-phobic boyfriend. A wife beater. David Foster Wallace’s 1999 boo... more A serial womaniser. A commitment-phobic boyfriend. A wife beater. David Foster Wallace’s 1999 book Brief Interviews with Hideous Men presents a provocative view of male misogyny and its effects on women. In this brief interview with READ, which expands upon his recent Postgraduate English article, Matthew Alexander suggests that Wallace’s work is an important text for our times, especially in the light of current debates about rape culture.
Conference Videos by Matthew Alexander
Verbalising Violence: A #MeToo and Animal Rights Reading of David Foster Wallace
With ‘Consider the Lobster’ (2004), David Foster Wallace is praised for writing 'one of the most ... more With ‘Consider the Lobster’ (2004), David Foster Wallace is praised for writing 'one of the most engaged and probing discussions of the relation between the human pleasure principle and animal suffering' (O’Donnell, 2013). However, the lack of rigorous criticism around the essay flatters Wallace’s approach—his apparent sympathy for PETA’s (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) cause belies the fact that he consumes lobsters at the event (Max, 2012). To understand how a 'probing discussion' has no lasting effect on its author (and readership) we must consider the links between animals and violence in Wallace’s fiction (particularly violence towards females). Here, Carol J. Adams’ (1990) notion of 'absent referents' is used to explicate the more disturbing aspects of Wallace’s works. This paper suggests that via a #MeToo lens we can view both the feminisation of animals and the animalisation of the feminine in Wallace’s texts, and move towards a cease in the violence by dismantling such violent rhetoric.
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Papers by Matthew Alexander
Book Reviews by Matthew Alexander
Conference Videos by Matthew Alexander