Performance, Everyday Life, and the Self in the Novels of David Foster Wallace
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Kent Academic Repository Full text document (pdf) Citation for published version South, Daniel (2015) Watching As The World Turns: Performance, Everyday Life, and the Self in the Novels of David Foster Wallace. Master of Arts by Research (MARes) thesis, University of Kent. DOI Link to record in KAR https://kar.kent.ac.uk/54755/ Document Version UNSPECIFIED Copyright & reuse Content in the Kent Academic Repository is made available for research purposes. Unless otherwise stated all content is protected by copyright and in the absence of an open licence (eg Creative Commons), permissions for further reuse of content should be sought from the publisher, author or other copyright holder. Versions of research The version in the Kent Academic Repository may differ from the final published version. Users are advised to check http://kar.kent.ac.uk for the status of the paper. Users should always cite the published version of record. Enquiries For any further enquiries regarding the licence status of this document, please contact: [email protected] If you believe this document infringes copyright then please contact the KAR admin team with the take-down information provided at http://kar.kent.ac.uk/contact.html Watching As The World Turns: Performance, Everyday Life, and the Self in the Novels of David Foster Wallace Mr. Daniel South A thesis submitted for the Degree of Masters in Drama by Research School of Arts, University of Kent September 2015 33,421 words Daniel South MA by Research Abstract This thesis examines the manifestation of performance in the novels of David Foster Wallace. It argues that as Wallace engages with the theme of performance he concurrently addresses the related topics of everyday life and the self. Taking key theories of performance from the discipline of W this thesis demonstrates how the views of everyday life and the self presented by Wallace are predicated on performance and uncertainty. It first compares W H L G D W outlined, primarily through close readings of how choice, boredom, rituals, and masks are presented in Wal , alongside comparisons of his work with two further theorists of the everyday, Raoul Vaneigem and Erving Goffman. The thesis concludes by examining how Wallace presents audiences within his novels, suggesting that he often uses performance situations to articulate his thoughts on the relationship between the self and the other, before calling for further W 1 Daniel South MA by Research Acknowledgements I would like to thank Dr. Rosemary Klich and Dr. Juha Virtanen for their invaluable support in the completion of this thesis. Their knowledge and patience has been much appreciated, and their willingness to defer to each other and discuss ideas with me as they would with a colleague has enlivened my research and my attitude towards it. Further thanks are required for their many reference submissions, and generous help in securing me a place to begin my PhD next year. Equal thanks to Adam Kelly in this regard; I look forward to working with him at York, especially after reading and learning so much from his work throughout this year. I would also like to thank Edward Jackson, Stephanie Lambert, Laura Morris, and Bart Thornton for kindly sending copies of various conference papers, and for expressing interest in the topic of this thesis. Questions and feedback from U K “ A ‘ Festival was also much appreciated. Last, and by absolutely no means least, many thanks are due to my wonderful and supportive parents. 2 Daniel South MA by Research Contents Abstract ............................................................................................... 1 Acknowledgements ............................................................................. 2 Contents .............................................................................................. 3 Introduction What We Talk About When We Talk About Performance .................... 4 Chapter One Wallace and Everyday Life ................................................................... 9 Chapter Two Forming the Self ................................................................................ 34 Chapter Three Performing the Self ............................................................................ 59 Chapter Four Performance as Metaphor ................................................................. 86 Conclusion Politics, Performance, and Literature ............................................... 115 Works Cited ..................................................................................... 122 3 Daniel South MA by Research Introduction What We Talk About When We Talk About Performance David Foster Wallace never wrote a stage play, directed a show, or published a review of a theatrical performance. Yet the author consistently engages with ideas of performance throughout his oeuvre. In this thesis I will examine how performance manifests i W , and explore how an understanding of performance might enhance readings of these works. Although this thesis makes occasional W performance widely, his novels will remain my focus throughout. In doing so I will provide an in-depth analysis whilst also demonstr engagement with performance is a wider trend applicable to more than just one of his works. Wallace wrote two novels, The Broom of the System and Infinite Jest, before taking his own life at the age of forty-six. His third novel was compiled by his editor Michael Pietsch from a partial manuscript and other notes, and published posthumously as The Pale King. As Boswell and Burn (2013) note W writing and his W W now published, critical studies of the author W vitation to I in noting the The Legacy of David Foster Wallace, the es the 4 Daniel South MA by Research hitherto primary concerns (or currents) W C and Konstantinou 2012: xi). Despite having received scant critical attention thus far, I o this succinct inventory of what can be inferred to be W . Although it is true that certain critics have addressed performance in W I believe that its centrality to his novels has been C W performance and its complex dynamic, because Infinite Jest W addi - Y C Infinite Jest tha Such readings focus too exclusively on form, and the reader and gloss over the myriad examples of performance in the content of the novel. More than C W W of personal fictions that a reader undoubtedly will bring to [Infinite Jest], makes for a highly charge -70). This statement does not W them. Form is certainly important to this manifestation as Kelly (2014a) points out, Infinite Jest the novel it is, rather than simply a representational drama 5 Daniel South MA by Research of contemporary ideas about sincerity, is that the reader is made to participate in ‘ experience of reading W s, however, I will combine close readings with a contextual theoretical framework to map out his engagement with performance in a broader context, and better understand its origins and implications. Elsewhere that runs through W explored alongside other topics. For example, E W ch co (508), as has his writing about television and entertainment. This is unsurprising: W MG , and because of this even individual currents such as performance reveal themselves to comprise many streams of ideas. I W then, the MK 20 T expansive complex of associations surrounding performance proves useful, in fact, as it directs readers to acknowledge both the obvious and the unclear. In short, performance in Wa time. A ‘ C W with this theme seems to seek to elucidate what we talk about when we talk about performance. 6 Daniel South MA by Research W novels suggest that such discussions of performance cannot be limited solely to . As Auslander (2003) points out, performance with everyday life, implying that the activities we describe as performances are not necessarily restricted to cer 1). In Chapter One I W performance, and will place his work in the context of two theorists of everyday life, Henri Lefebvre and Guy Debord. Initially focussing on a close reading of a conceptual film described in Infinite Jest called Found Drama, I W of the everyday is linked to these work by a similar interest in uncertainty and performance. P W and Chapters Two and Three will outline how, W ideas of the self, they often do so in situations linked to performance. Chapter Two in particular will W W theatrical practitioners, Antonin Artaud and Bertolt Brecht. The bulk of this chapter will focus on the links between choice and performance in relation to the self, but I will also lf- W . In Chapter Three I will develop these ideas as presented in his novels, establishing further links between Wallace and everyday life theory by comparing these ideas with those of Erving Goffman and Raoul Vaneigem, two further theorists of the everyday with interests in the self and performance. I will also 7 Daniel South MA by Research outline two additional ways in which performance manifests W presenting close readings of sections involving rituals and masks. Chapter Four rounds off this discussion with a broader view of the topic, W metaphor for the relationship between the self and