Listening to this really great David Foster...
Aug 29th
“An ad that pretends to be art is — at absolute best — like...”
— A Supposedly Fun Thing I’ll...
— A Supposedly Fun Thing I’ll...
Aug 28th
Watch
David Foster Wallace, reading “B.I. #40” from Brief Interviews with Hideous Men. Yr...
Aug 27th
Some wisdom before school starts
nickzed: Q: “How do you remember Amherst? What are the experiences—in and out of the...
Aug 26th
David Foster Wallace, wearing the signature bandana.
Aug 25th
“The so-called ‘psychotically depressed’ person who tries to...”
— David Foster Wallace (Infinite...
— David Foster Wallace (Infinite...
Aug 23rd
Listen
This audio file is an interview with David Foster Wallace on Infinite Jest on Wisconsin Public...
Aug 22nd
A correspondence between David Foster...
David Foster Wallace: “Because I tend both to think I’m uniquely afflicted and to idealize people I admire, I tend to imagine you never having had to struggle with any of this narcissism or indulgence stuff. [...] Maybe I want a pep-talk, because I have to tell you I don’t enjoy this war one bit.Don DeLillo: “I was a semiconscious writer in the beginning. Just sat and wrote something, or read the newspaper, or went to the movies. Over time I began to understand, one, that I was lucky to be doing this work, and, two, that the only way I’d get better at it was to be more serious, to understand the rigors of novel-writing and to make it central to my life, not a variation on some related career choice, like sportswriting or playwriting. The novel is different. [...] We die indoors, and alone, and I don’t mean to sound overdramatic but you know what I’m talking about. Anyway, all of this happened over time, until eventually discipline no longer seemed something outside me that urged the reluctant body into the room. At this point discipline is inseparable from what I do. It’s not even definable as discipline. It has no name. I never think about it. But there’s no trick of meditation or self-mastery that brought it about. I got older, that’s all. I was not a born novelist (if anyone is). I had to grow into novelhood.”
Aug 21st
David Foster Wallace did not foresee Twitter,...
Aug 21st
“As I’m sure you guys know by now, it is extremely difficult...”
— David Foster Wallace. I was...
— David Foster Wallace. I was...
Aug 20th
“Even gifted ironists work best in sound bites. I find them...”
— David Foster Wallace via...
— David Foster Wallace via...
Aug 19th
I started my first day of post-collegiate work today at...
Aug 18th
Click through for more of Steve Rhodes’ amazing David...
Aug 17th
David Foster Wallace on 6 December 2000 in Santa Fe, New...
Aug 15th
DFW on essays as a way of living
kellyfoster: “Part of our emergency is that it’s so tempting to do this sort of thing now, to...
Aug 15th
“It has been often said that there is a fine line between...”
— -John Ziegler, via Dave Weigel...
— -John Ziegler, via Dave Weigel...
Aug 14th
nickdouglas:
Infinite Jest’s Mario Incandenza, by Tim...
Aug 13th
“If I’m hanging out with you, I can’t even tell whether I...”
— David Foster Wallace (via...
— David Foster Wallace (via...
Aug 12th
“Learning how to think really means learning how to exercise...”
— David Foster Wallace (via...
— David Foster Wallace (via...
Aug 11th
Watch
David Foster Wallace, reading “Forever Overhead” (part III of III).
Aug 9th
Watch
David Foster Wallace, reading “Forever Overhead” (part II of III).
Aug 8th
Watch
David Foster Wallace, reading “Forever Overhead” (part I of III).
Aug 8th
“Think for a second – what if all the infinitely dense and...”
— David Foster Wallace, in...
— David Foster Wallace, in...
Aug 7th
“Your family likes you. You are bright and quiet, respectful...”
— Forever Overhead, by David...
— Forever Overhead, by David...
Aug 6th
What If You Pull a Literary Hoax and Nobody...
Aug 4th
The Wall Street Journal: I have an advance copy of "Infinite Jest" that your publishing house sent me in 1996. It's signed—apparently—by you and there's a little smiley face under your name. I've always wondered—did you actually draw that smiley face?
Mr. [David Foster] Wallace: One prong of the Buzz plan [for "Infinite Jest"] involved sending out a great many signed first editions—or maybe reader copies—to people who might generate Buzz. What they did was mail me a huge box of trade-paperback-size sheets of paper, which I was to sign; they would then somehow stitch them in to these "special" books. I basically spent an entire weekend signing these pages. You've probably had the weird epileptoid experience of saying a word over and over until it ceases to denote and becomes very strange and arbitrary and odd-feeling—imagine that happening with your own name. That's what happened. Plus it was boring. So boring, that I started doing all kinds of weird little graphic things to try to stay alert and engaged. What you call the "smiley face" is a vestige of an amateur cartoon character I used to amuse myself with in grade school. It's physically fun to draw—very sharp and swooping, and the eyebrows are just crackling with affect. I've seen a few of these "special books" at signings before, and it always makes me smile to see that face.
Mr. [David Foster] Wallace: One prong of the Buzz plan [for "Infinite Jest"] involved sending out a great many signed first editions—or maybe reader copies—to people who might generate Buzz. What they did was mail me a huge box of trade-paperback-size sheets of paper, which I was to sign; they would then somehow stitch them in to these "special" books. I basically spent an entire weekend signing these pages. You've probably had the weird epileptoid experience of saying a word over and over until it ceases to denote and becomes very strange and arbitrary and odd-feeling—imagine that happening with your own name. That's what happened. Plus it was boring. So boring, that I started doing all kinds of weird little graphic things to try to stay alert and engaged. What you call the "smiley face" is a vestige of an amateur cartoon character I used to amuse myself with in grade school. It's physically fun to draw—very sharp and swooping, and the eyebrows are just crackling with affect. I've seen a few of these "special books" at signings before, and it always makes me smile to see that face.
Aug 4th
Watch
maraby:
David Foster Wallace: “Consider the Lobster”
Aug 3rd
Cormac McCarthy, an author highly regarded by David Foster...
Aug 2nd