The Unspeakable Failures of David Foster Wallace: Language, Identity, and Resistance

The Unspeakable Failures of David Foster Wallace is an excellent work of scholarship, in which Clare Hayes-Brady has shown a masterful command of both primary and secondary Wallace literature as well as the varied and often difficult philosophical waters in which he swims. For anyone interested in dwelling on what Wallace's writing does, or negotiating the inexpressible in contemporary literature, this book offers an excellent way of thinking through what it means to fail. It is coherently organized, tightly theorized, lucidly written, and challenging, yet enjoyable, to read. Hayes-Brady establishes a theoretical framework that can be use

Clare Hayes-Brady is Lecturer in American Literature at University College Dublin, Ireland.

"Adds Significance to the body of Wallace Criticism" according to LeeAnn Derdeyn, Ph.D.. While there are some points with which to quibble (for instance, her section on Signifying Rappers [ital]), I found the book quite insightful, and one of the more fresh and innovative entries into recent Wallace criticism.Some, not having read the book, might misunderstand the usage of "Failure" in the title, but it is not merely a pun. Hayes-Brady uses it carefully, and apropos for Wallace's language-wrangling. Additionally, watching a recording of an interview, doesn't qualify the prior rev

Clare Hayes-Brady draws on the evolving discourses of Wallace studies, focusing on the unifying anti-teleology of his writing, arguing that that position is a fundamentally political response to the condition of neo-liberal America. This book examines the writing of David Foster Wallace, hailed as the voice of a generation on his death. Taking a broadly thematic approach to the numerous types of 'failure', or lack of completion, visible throughout his work, the book offers a framework within which to read Wallace's work as a coherent whole, rather than split along the lines of fiction versus non-fiction, or pre- and post-Infinite Jest, two critical positions that have become dominant over the last five years. While demonstrating the centrality of 'failure', the book also explores Wallace's approach to sincere communication as a recurring response to what he saw as the inane, self-absorbed commodification of language and society, along with less explored themes such as gender, naming and heroism. Critics have identified horror of solipsism, obsession with sincerity and a corresponding ambivalence regarding postmodern irony, and detailed attention to contemporary culture as the central elements of Wallace's writing. Situating Wallace as both a product of his time and an artist sui generis, Hayes-Brady details his abiding interest in philosophy, langua