If you can completely absorb the backwave, it would probably work. Unfortunately I don't think that's realistically possible. The problem is, the two-foot round-trip path length difference (imparting a 2-millisecond delay) before the backwave energy arrives at the listening position puts it right smack in the time zone where the ear is most sensitive to coloration and loss of clarity from reflections. On the other hand, 10 milliseconds of time delay (corresponding to Sogood51's five-feet-out dipole speaker positioning) is long enough that the reflections will add richness and liveliness with minimal detriment.
Another great post from Duke. There ought to be an audiogon "stickies" for great advice such as this. This is the same issue as side wall reflections or the nearby coffee table right in front of the speaker...nearby reflections cause a collapse in soundstage. Above 5 Msecs things start to improve significantly and at 10 millisecs you are in the "safe" zone for reflections.
The reverse applies too....don't sit within 5 feet of a wall if you can help it!