The artistic image of the U.S. Midwest in the novels by W. Gass and D. F. Wallace as a metaphor of human existence

The article deals with the image of the U.S. Midwest and its significance as the setting of William H. Gass’s and David Foster Wallace’s philosophical novels. The analysis of the artistic details representing the everyday life of the characters, together with the studies of the works by prominent philosophers and historians, lead the authors of the article to the conclusion that for both writers the Midwest appears to be more than a geographical location, turning into an important symbol of human life as a reality created and defined by language. In the analyzed novels, the living conditions in the Midwest, traditionally perceived as the most typical for America, become a philosophical reflection of the general conditions of human existence as immersion in the world created by language. Emptiness and loneliness, characteristic of the Midwestern life due to the geographical and historical circumstances under which the region has developed, are considered by Gass and Wallace as universal conditions of human existence. A person, thrown into the material emptiness of an objectively existing world, tries to seek salvation with the help of language as the only philosophical tool at his disposal. The characters in the novels try to fill the void of their existence with words, thus striving to give shape and meaning to reality. But limited by the framework of language as a pragmatically conditioned reflection of the material facts, a person does not find an opportunity to reach the sphere of the metaphysical and the ethical, and, as a result, the external boredom of the provincial Midwest lifestyle turns into inner emptiness as the dominant feeling of the characters in the novels. Gass does not see an opportunity for his characters to escape from the trap set by the language-dominated world, while Wallace is actively looking for the ways to overcome the adverse circumstances through an ethical action as the opposite of the word.