ABSTRACT
This chapter argues that the problem of ‘sincerity’ sits at the thematic heart of a body of post-boomer authors, including David Foster Wallace, Dave Eggers, Jennifer Egan, George Saunders, Rachel Kushner and Jonathan Franzen. It discusses the traits and definitions of ‘sincerity’, ‘authenticity’ and the ‘postmodern metafiction’ against which the (New) Sincerity movement must be framed. The chapter describes the manifesto documents of the ‘group’, a significant portion of which will examine specific statements of David Foster Wallace, the acknowledged progenitor of this ‘movement’. It explains the ways in which these statements manifest themselves within several contemporary works, and provides attention to a range of authors who continue to consciously rebel against this turn. Sincerity is a type of honesty that is not merely concerned with an accuracy in one’s statements to others but is rather based on checking future actions against previous speech and behaviour.
