Seminar David Foster Wallace and Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky

David Foster Wallace, who is arguably the most influential American fiction writer of the last twenty years, had a strong interest in the works of Dostoevsky. This is evident not only in his review of Joseph Frank’s monumental biography of Dostoevsky, but also in his masterpiece Infinite Jest, whose characters and themes are loosely patterned on The Brothers Karamazov. This seminar will focus less on the way Wallace borrowed directly from Dostoevsky (this has been well documented by Timothy Jacobs) but on the more general ethical issues and the dialogical and narrative techniques that are relevant for both writers. The course, which will be conducted in English, is addressed to students of comparative, Slavic and American literature. Ideally, students should read both Infinite Jest and The Brothers Karamazov (whether in the original or in translation) in preparation for the class, but since both works are extremely long, it is suggested that students focus on the work of literature in their respective specialization and read excerpts or shorter works from the less familiar author (such excerpts will be provided during the seminar). By way of introduction all students should read Wallace’s book review of Joseph Frank’s Dostoevsky biography (see below). A copy can be obtained directly from the instructor at: raoul.eshelman@lmu.de Topics will include: • Dialogicity and the novel (Bakhtin) • The ethics of suffering • Evil as a metaphysical problem • -Prosaics” and narrative structure in DFW and FMD • Cultural critique in DFW and FMD • David Foster Wallace: -Joseph Frank’s Dostoevsky”. In: DFW, Consider the Lobster and Other Essays, London 2005. • David Foster Wallace: Infinite Jest. New York 1996. • David Foster Wallace: Unendlicher Spaß. Reinbek 2011. • Timothy Jacobs: -The Brothers Incandenza. Translating Ideology in Fyodor Dostoevsky’s The Brothers Karamazov and David Foster Wallace’s Infinite Jest.” In: Texas Studies in Literature and Language 3(2007), 265-292. • Fjodor Michailovi Dostoevskij: Brat’ja Karamazovy. 1878-1880. • Fjodor M. Dostojewskij: Die Brüder Karamasow. Übersetzt von Hans Ruoff und Richard Hoffmann. München 1998. • Fyodor Dostoevsky: The Brothers Karamazov. Transl. Richard Pevear and Larisa Volokhonsky. London 1992. Downloads DateinameBeschreibunggültig vongültig bis DFW_Frank review.pdf DFW: Review of Joseph Frank's Dostoevskij Biography jacobs_brothers incandenza.pdf Timothy Jacobs: The Brothers Incandenza DFW_E Unibus Pluram.pdf DFW: E Unibus Pluram: Television and U.S. Fiction FMD_Grand Inquisitor.pdf FMD: The Grand Inquisitor FMD_Father Zosima.pdf FMD: The Life of Father Zosima DFW_biographies.pdf DFW: Infinite Jest (Biographies of Main Characters) Zum Download müssen Sie angemeldet sein! Department II - Griechische und Lateinische, Romanische, Italienische und Slavische Philologie, Sprachen und Kommunikation LMU München SoSe 2015 apl.Prof.Dr. Eshelman Raoul