/lit/ - Literature

Somebody compiled a list of DFW's influences and the list is garbage. The majority of it is translated Kafka, translated Dostoevsky and translated philosophy. He has no Greek literature and only one Greek philosopher.
https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/109680.David_Foster_Wallace_s_Influences
No wonder his prose is shit when he reads this garbage.
I also noticed the people whom he influenced include John Green and Zadie Smith
>Among the writers who cite Wallace as an influence are Dave Eggers,[3] Zadie Smith,[4] Jonathan Franzen,[5] Elizabeth Wurtzel,[6] George Saunders,[7] Rivka Galchen, John Green,[8] Matthew Gallaway, David Gordon, Darin Strauss, Charles Yu, Porochista Khakpour,[9][10] and Deb Olin Unferth.[11]
I understand why starting with the Greeks is so important now. The people who aren't influenced by the Greeks are all terrible writers.

>NOOOOOOOOOOOO YOU CAN'T JUST USE SARCASM OR STATE ANY KIND OF POINT IRONICALLY!!!! MY AUTISM-RIDDLED BRAIN CAN'T HANDLE THOSE KINDS OF NUANCES!!! WE NEED TO GO BACK TO MEANING WHAT WE SAY AT FACE VALUE BECAUSE REASONS!!!!

>>14275431
That worn-out spine says it all

Post a DFW excerpt with soul. Everything I've ever read from him reads like something worker ants stitched together, devoid of emotion and passion

>>14182310
Irony is awful though - I'd rather have a few drinks with an unironic retard than an ironic genius.

The problem I have with David Foster Wallace is that he's a genius. Not necessarily in the sense of being a writer of genius. He was a genius in the sense of having such an incredibly high-level perspective on his craft.

He was a genius in the sense of being such a great teacher.

In a class of 100 people, he has about a 1% chance of being able to teach one of them anything of worth. But you can teach a 1% of 100 people anything of value.

There is a reason he is the greatest and most famous writer in the history of the English language, period, which is that he taught me something I didn't know before I started studying writing.

His teaching of writing is so great, and he is so humble about it, that he is able to be so effective with a group of people. You need a teacher like that.

So I think he is a genius.

What are some quality writings dealing with irony and sincerity?

>eliminates your map

>Dude, were you being ironic just now? Not cool, bro.

If you could ask him one question, what would it be?

Books that made you re-read the first chapter after you finished it?

Pic related

You called?

What order would you suggest for reading david foster wallace >

Foster Wallace. Dislike him. Another hypocrite, he professed to be down with the working class despite coming from a wealthy family and making a lot of cash with his nonsensical mess of a novel, Infinite Jest

Stop being ironic

I really miss this nigga

>>13466559
Hey63.

Morning boys, how's the water?

Fuck, I miss this nigga so much

*kills himself

Is this guy a meme or legit?

ps im not american

Why was he so based?

>In the early 1990s Wallace became obsessed with the writer Mary Karr. He considered killing her husband,[21] threw a coffee table at her and tried to push her out of a moving car.[22][21] Karr has complained that Wallace's biographer D. T. Max underreported Wallace's abuse of her. Of Max's account of their relationship, she tweeted, "that's about 2% of what happened. tried to buy a gun. kicked me. climbed up the side of my house at night. followed my son age 5 home from school. had to change my number twice, and he still got it. months and months it went on."[23]
Literally what was wrong with him?

Just finished Infinite Jest

I don't get it