Wallace's Dialects

Reviews / Votes

Shapiro's linguistic lens offers a deep and provocative look at the dialectic of aesthetics and politics in Wallace's language. Shapiro leaves no dialect unexamined, no idiom unturned. * Ralph Clare, Associate Professor of English, Boise State University, USA, and author of Fictions Inc.: The Corporation in Postmodern Fiction, Film, and Popular Culture (2014) * Wallace's Dialects is the book Wallace Studies desperately needed without yet knowing it. Bringing the fresh lens of linguistics to Wallace's work, Mary Shapiro demonstrates how Wallace carefully constructed a wide range of dialects in order to interrogate and challenge categories of race, ethnicity, gender, nationality, and regionality, while also enabling readers to empathize with members of all categories. Shapiro engages critics of Wallace's constructions of gender and race, both inside and outside the academy, using examples from across his work to argue that more than exposing his blind spots, Wallace's fascination with dialect reveals his own reflections on his white male privilege. Seasoned Wallace readers and critics will find in Wallace's Dialects aspects of Wallace's work that have been staring us in the face unseen for far too long, while new readers will find an excellent place to start to appreciate Wallace's intricate linguistic constructions and their attending social critique. * Mary K. Holland, Professor of English, SUNY New Paltz, USA, and co-editor of Approaches to Teaching David Foster Wallace (with Stephen J. Burn, 2019) *