The relationship between existentialism and capitalism through the works of David Foster Wallace

This contribution studies the fictional works of David Foster Wallace through a framework anticipated by the sociologist Jim McGuigan, who, in “The Neoliberal Self”, argued that neoliberalism is the concretization of existentialism. In agreement with McGuigan, I submit that, while Wallace dedicated his career to writing fiction that would function as an anodyne against the existential predicaments created by neoliberalism, he could never offer a solution to said predicaments precisely because he subscribed to existentialism. In short, the argument is that Wallace’s works unwillingly demonstrate that if one believes we are all individuals endowed with free will and responsible for ourselves, then neoliberalism follows, with all its consequences. In addition, the presentation compares Wallace’s framework with that put forth in Ulrich and Elizabeth Beck’s notion of ‘individualization’. Wallace and the Becks are shown to be all existentialists, albeit on opposite sides: Wallace sees the existential predicaments caused by neoliberalism but fails to solve them; the Becks entirely fail to see them because of their existentialism. Even in the failure of his project, therefore, Wallace’s works show that literary writers can have a deeper grasp of social dynamics than sociologists themselves. They thus invite us to keep literary analysis at the forefront in our attempts to understand ourselves and the world we live in.