Allard den Dulk is Lecturer in Philosophy, Literature and Film at Amsterdam University College, The Netherlands
List of Abbreviations
Acknowledgments
Foreword
Introduction
1. Aims and Method
2. An 'Aesthetic Sea-Change' in American Literature
3. Outline of Primary Literary Works
4. Heuristic Perspectives
5. Outline of the Study
PART I
PROBLEMS
Chapter 1 - Hyperreflexivity
Introduction
1. Factors of Heightened Contemporary Reflexivity
2. Sartre's View of Consciousness and Self-Reflection
3. The Alienation of Self-Reflection
Conclusion
Chapter 2 - Endless Irony
Introduction
1. Irony as an Attitude towards Existence
2. Irony as Negative Independence
3. Endless 'Aesthetic' Irony
4. Meta-Irony
Conclusion
PROBLEMATIC FICTION
Chapter 3 - Postmodernist Metafiction: John Barth
Introduction
1. Metafiction
2. Deconstruction and Metafiction
Conclusion
Chapter 4 - Postmodernist Minimalism: Bret Easton Ellis
Introduction
1. General Comparison
2. Four Aspects of the Escalation of Ironic-Aesthetic Existence
3. A Continuation of Reflexive Irony
Conclusion
PART II
ENGAGED FICTION
Chapter 5 - Wittgenstein and Wallace: The Meaning of Fiction
Introduction
1. Wittgenstein: The Temptation of Essences
2. Wittgenstein: The Irrelevance of Essences
3. The Virtues of the Late-Wittgensteinian Language View
4. A Late-Wittgensteinian View of Fiction
Conclusion
ENGAGEMENT
Chapter 6 - Sincerity
Introduction
1. Sincerity vs. Authenticity
2. Sincerity: A Sartrean, Existentialist Ideal
3. Cases of Sincerity: The Fiction of Wallace, Eggers and Foer
Conclusion
Chapter 7 - Reality-Commitment
Introduction
1. The Realization of Choice: Freedom, Despair, Urgency
2. The Reality of the Self as Gift and Task
3. Reality as Repetition
Conclusion
Chapter 8 - Community
Introduction
1. Absurdity and Rebellion: Two Main Themes of Camus's Thought
2. The Role of the Other: Kierkegaard and Sartre vs. Camus
3. Discovering the Other: Wallace, Eggers and Foer
4. Towards a Dialogic Community of Meaning
Conclusion
Concluding Remarks
1. Literature and Philosophy
2. Existentialist Engagement
3. Love Me Till My Heart Stops?
Works Cited
