Jul 072013
 

  2 Responses to “David Foster Wallace on Commercial Literature & Reading”

  1. So glad this was brought to my attention. A few years ago, I worked my way through INFINITE JEST with what I suspect is a not uncommon mix of enjoyment, admiration, and irritation. In the only two interviews I’ve seen of DFW he was immensely engaging (as he is here), though I confess I had to overcome initial annoyance at the dew-rag, which made him seem, at first, affected–which he appears to have been anything but.

    In this brief clip, his intelligence, modesty, and charm are on full and unpretentious display. About two years ago, I had a brief conversation with Jonathan Franzen, who expressed, with much affection, what seems to be a fairly widespread verdict: that Wallace was the most gifted of their generation. A great and sad loss.

  2. I began and then put down The Pale King, which as I understand it is in part a meditation on boredom…in D.T. Max’s lovely biography he seems to suggests DFW was trying at that late stage of his life to forge a way into a world of silence/concentration/peace DFW describes in this video clip.

    I need to try to read Pale King again, if I can find a quiet room…

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