WHAT IS NEW IS OLD

RECONSIDERING ADAM KELLY AND THE NEW SINCERITY IN DAVID FOSTER WALLACE’S CRITICAL FORTUNE

Abstract

This article’s objective is to examine the evolution of the concept of New Sincerity in the literary criticism that studies the works of the American author David Foster Wallace. It is a concept that, since its introduction in the literary context in 2010 by Adam Kelly, was more and more linked to Wallace, to the point that the author’s fiction became synonymous with New Sincerity and of a refusal of irony as a communicative, literary and rhetorical resource. This approach, however, has resulted in the stagnation of the discourse that was formed around the ideas of irony and sincerity in Wallace’s fiction, creating the necessity of a revaluation of what New Sincerity represents. In recent years, more and more studies have used the New Sincerity as a closed case, a fact that does not need to be questioned, that simply belongs to the author and his fiction. With this in mind, this paper offers a brief historical overview, tracing the concept's origins in the field of music and its eventual adoption by other disciplines. It then examines how the concept was applied in Wallace's works, explores the resulting implications, and considers what the future might hold for Wallacean studies.