/lit/ - Literature

ITT: many foolish comments.

This piece is not about taking DFW down, dirtying him up, or exposing his ugly spots, all of which have been suggested ITT.

Actually, quite the opposite. Franzen is adding to the heroic legend that has formed halo-like over DFW's corpse. He's poeticizing and more closely than ever before delineating the deep psychological fault-lines and weaknesses.

Really withholding his words would be more of an "insult." By caving in to his place in post-DFW lit,, he is making his peace and moving on in a way, just as he says in the peace. I only found the long sections about Robinson Crusoe and descriptions of the island to be dull; you can just read the middle 12 paragraphs and skip the rest; but on the re-read, the metaphor of the journey clicked for me and I realized what a polished art object the piece is. (That opens up whole other questions about whether Franzen can be a trusted guide if he creates metaphor and literary text within his own life, literally; does that matter, or is only the coincidental worthy of consideration in non-fiction? -but we can leave that for now).

Pics is NY art.