PHAIDRA – Digital collections

Infinite Jest, David Foster Wallace’s most famous book, published on February 1, 1996, turned 25 in 2021.
In its first section, this special issue celebrates the novel’s silver anniversary with six fresh re-readings by prominent Wallace readers.
The second section deals with the theme ‘transgression vs the politically correct’ in children’s literature.

Table of Contents:

Section 1. David Foster Wallace’s Infinite Jest Turns 25

Hidden Gems
Unexpectedly Poetic Lines Easily Overlooked (?) in Infinite Jest’s Voluminous Flow
Mary Shapiro

“I Am in Here”: A Comparative Reading of David Foster Wallace’s Infinite Jest and Franz Kafka’s The Metamorphosis
Allard den Dulk

Infinite Jest’s Voice(s)
Notes for an (Audible) Map
Adriano Ardovino Pia Masiero

Memories of the Limbaugh Administration
1990s Politics, Conservative Media, and Infinite Jest as a Novel of Radio
Jeffrey Severs

The Triumph of the Will of Athletes in Infinite Jest
James Redgate

Wallace After Postmodernism (Again): Metamodernism, Tone, Tennis
Timotheus Vermeulen

Section 2. Children’s Literature and Political Correctness

Transgression vs the Politically Correct: Phases and Faces of a Core Category in Children’s Literature
Francesca Orestano

Forbidden Words: Language Control and Victorian Political Correctness in Dickens and Carroll
Galia Benziman

The Blue Fairy and Wendy
Incest, Sacrifice or Feminine Empowerment?
Déborah Lévy-Bertherat

The Politically Incorrect and Its Limits in Late Twentieth-Century Youth Literature
Rome, l’Enfer by Malika Ferdjoukh
Sylvie Servoise

Children’s Sexualisation and Toys
Barbie Doll as a Sexual Token in Sarah Strohmeyer’s Barbie Unbound
Beatrice Moja

John Boyne’s Representation of the Shoah in The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas: A Paradigm of Transgression and Linguistic Uncertainties
Marco Canani