This study explores the American writer David Foster Wallace and his relationship to postmodernism--both as a literary aesthetic and as a larger cultural logic. Though most criticism of Wallace's work suggests that he attempted to overcome postmodernism in literature, I have discovered that the question is significantly more complicated. I show this by exploring Wallace's relationship with another leading postmodern writer, Don DeLillo, through their correspondence (obtained from the Harry Ransom Center on a research visit there), as well as two of their works of fiction: White Noise by DeLillo, and Oblivion by Wallace, one of the stories in which Wallace composed in his personal copy of White Noise. I conclude that Wallace had a relationship with DeLillo (and thus to postmodernism) characterized by inspiration and respect, rather than aggressive patricide. Â
