Eastern Illinois University The Keep Masters Theses Student Theses & Publications 2018 Introducing the Hero of Stasis: An Examination of Heroism in David Foster Wallace's Infinite Jest and The aleP King Gregory Robert Peterson Eastern Illinois University This research is a product of the graduate program in English at Eastern Illinois University. Find out more about the program. Recommended Citation Peterson, Gregory Robert, "Introducing the Hero of Stasis: An Examination of Heroism in David Foster Wallace's Infinite Jest and The Pale King" (2018). Masters Theses. 3735. https://thekeep.eiu.edu/theses/3735 This is brought to you for free and open access by the Student Theses & Publications at The Keep. It has been accepted for inclusion in Masters Theses by an authorized administrator of The Keep. For more information, please contact [email protected]. TheGraduate School� E..\51'F.R,,'JIUJNOIS US JVF.RSITY. 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Introducing the Hero of Stasis: An Examination of Heroism in David Foster Wallace's Infinite fest and The Pale King (TITLE) BY Gregory Robert Peterson THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF Master's in English IN THE GRADUATE SCHOOL, EASTERN ILLINOIS UNIVERSITY CHARLESTON, ILLINOIS 2018 YEAR I HEREBY RECOMMEND THAT THIS THESIS BE ACCEPTED AS FULFILLING THIS PART OF THE GRADUATE DEGREE CITED ABOVE 8hJ/ 1s �ll3b8 I Ht::il�(.;UMMI I ttI (.;HAIK UAlt DEPARTMENT/SCHOOL CHAIR DATE OR CHAIR'S DESIGNEE _!_)_Ii /i16 THESIS COMMITIEE MEMBER DATE THESIS COMMITIEE MEMBER DATE -J'/il}� DATE THESIS COMMITTEE MEMBER DATE Peterson 1 Introduction David Foster Wallace is widely regarded as a unique and captivating postmodern (or perhaps post-postmodern) author due to his ability to weave complex narrativesthat challenge the reader to work their way through bis dense, albeit meaningful, prose. Wallace's texts also challenge the reader to consider the existential struggles of individuals living in a world that is beyond postmodern. As Marshall Boswell notes in his text, Understanding David Foster Wallace, Wallace is often questionably labeled a postmodern author (1), and Boswell classifies Wallace as "a nervous member of some still-unnamed (and perhaps unnamable) third wave of modernism" (1). Wallace is primarily known for his novel, InfiniteJest, which deals heavily with drug addiction, entertainment, and tennis, but Wallace had an eclectic career as the author of numerous works of fiction and non-fiction. Writing about heroism is not something Wallace is known for, but the evolution of heroism in modem society is a powerful thread of thought that Wallace first addresses in Infinite Jest and continues to develop through his unfinished novel, ThePale King. Within these texts, Wallace conveys his notion of heroism through the struggles, attitudes, conversations, and writing of his characters. Collectively these fragments show us three types of heroes that are social constructs determined by the contemporary values of a given society. The most significant of these hero types is Wallace's groundbreaking idea of the hero of non-action, which this thesis interprets as a hero of stasis. Wallace's new heroics are exemplified by individuals who are heroic for their ability to conquer their internal struggle and achieve existential equilibrium. Peterson 2 Infinite Jest and The Pale King are Wallace's primary texts that include his exploration and analysis of heroism because they depict the traditional notions of heroism and offer an alternative view of the concept. Though Wallace's ideas about heroism are important in Infinite Jest, it is easy for this concept to get pushed to the side in a complex novel that is nearly 1,000 pages long, not including the 96 pages of Notes and Errata. The narrative of Jn.finiteJest is very complicated with scores of minor characters, shifting plotlines, lengthy world-building descriptions, and many notes that interrupt the immediate flowof the story. There are, however, amazing yet easy to overlook instances of Wallace's unique ideas within the incredibly dense and complicated narrative, like Wallace's thoughts about heroism. InfiniteJest offersan assessment of America's cultural trends of heroism in the form of a paper written by one of the protagonists, a teenage tennis prodigy and academic whiz named Hal. His essay identifies three types of heroes that are the products of the cultural values of America from a certain point in time (circa 1970s, 1980s, and the near future). These hero types are respectively the hero of action, the hero of reaction, and the hero of non-action (Jn.finiteJest 142-143). Hal's essay is Wallace's primary evaluation of the cultural and temporal factors that determine the identity of a certain type of social hero who happen to be more oriented towards white males. Central to the novel is the heroic struggles of the hero of stasis, Don Gately. Gately's successful struggle with drug addiction and depression through AA, as well as his traumatic and drug-free recovery from a gunshot wound, serves as one of Wallace's models of an authentic hero in InfiniteJest. An important aspect of InfiniteJest is Wallace's appraisal of the popular notion of heroism and his claim to the validity of a new kind of heroism. Peterson 3 It is fitting that the basis for Wallace's inquiry into modem heroism would be connected to television, as Wallace wrote his essay "E Unibus Pluram: Television and U.S. Fiction" in which he explores how television has affected post-modernity in America. Boswell describes Wallace's essay as one of Wallace's most significant non­ fiction texts (9). According to Boswell, Wallace's essay "functions as one of the most direct articulations of Wallace's particular take on postmodemism and the unique challenges facing writers of his generation" (9). Wallace's analysis of the way television affects the culture of the modern world shares similarities to core themes in Wallace's Infinite Jest, which is set in a world where video entertainment has an economically symbiotic but culturally antagonistic relationship (InfiniteJest 412-413). Boswell notes the connection that the essay, which was written first, has with Infinite Jest, and asserts that the essay "in many ways prepared the way for that career-making book" (9). Wallace states in his essay, "E Unibus Pluram: Television and U.S. Fiction" that "the most dangerous thing about television for U.S. fiction writers is that we yield to the temptation not to take television seriously as both a disseminator and a definer of the cultural atmosphere we breathe and process" (155). Wallace believes that television is an important link to understanding contemporary culture. Wallace openly admits that "TV is the epitome of low art" (162), yet it is an important tool for understanding "what we as Audience want to see ourselves as" (152). Given the value Wallace attributes to TV for its ability to perform "predatory human research" (151) and the fact that Wallace sees television functioning as a social mirror of human desire (152), it isn't surprising that Wallace would use television as a jumping off point to examine cultural heroism since the television heroes would be reflections of what audiences hoped to see as heroes.