Alcoholics Polyphonous: Wittgenstein's Linguistic Philosophy in David Foster Wallace's Infinite Jest

This thesis examines David Foster Wallace's magnum opus Infinite Jest in terms of its relationship with the linguistic philosophy of Ludwig Wittgenstein. Starting from a summary of the later Wittgenstein's famous Private Language Argument, I analyze the way Wallace adapts the idea of the Private Language User (PLU) as an archetype for his novel's characters. The third chapter details Wallace's use of the Wittgensteinian notion of the "language-game" as an antidote to the epistemological and existential solipsism entailed by the private referential or mentalistic paradigm of language, while the fourth concludes with a look at the formal implications of Wallace's use of Wittgenstein for what has already been rather unfortunately termed the nascent aesthetic of "postpostmodern" fiction.

Grantor dc:publisher

Wake Forest University

Year dc:date.issued

2013

Author dc:creator

• Cobb, Gavin

• Language

Language dc:language.iso

en

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/10339/38580

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:wakespace.lib.wfu.edu:10339/38580