/lit/ - Literature

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How many times have I watched the interview? More times than I’d like to share. I once fell asleep to it every night for a week. It was just so calming and evoked a strange temporal comfort, of another time and place where I wasn’t so inundated with trivial information about the world or with ideological predispositions that made me care. You could tell he wanted to either not speak or talk on a point for hours, but the long form interview is the closest thing television got to real informational literature. It’s fantastic. The camera man is a jokester and the interviewer is callously attempting to be genuine only after he forces her to. Their play between precondtructed question and the accidental narrative arc he gives the whole thing is magical. In a twist of irony this interview has had more impact on me than most of his writing. I’ve read lots of his essays and enjoyed them. I’ve tried to read infinite jest twice, both times stoping somewhere between p100-200. His demeanor, his regretful and bashful intellect, it’s all things I wish I could see in myself. I want to be more secluded and smart, but I’m the loud, boisterous and obnoxious fellow at parties everyone either loves or despises. I’ve learned I don’t care much for that life but I’m too deep into my own life to really be able to rewrite my entire personality, and even if I could, wouldn’t it just be a false replication or simulation of who a person wanted to be. I think I’ll watch it to sleep tonight. These past few months have been rough, and DFW in that video is more a friend than any of my personal friendships and relationships have ever been. I hate, and I assume he would go, this idolizing, but I think he gets at it in the interview when he talks about how reading lets you get into the mind of a person more so than we ever will talking to them. I know this may be too sincere or honest for /lit/ and for the dfw meme, but life is just really hard these days. It’s nice to find nice things in the world.

>>16356746
Based take. I love watching that interview. The way he reacts after the cameraman says "pontificating" gets me every time. You can tell he's extremely self critical too, I feel bad for him. Haven't watched it in a while but I might check it out again after reading your post. Thanks anon.

>>16356965
ur welcome anon

>>16356580
>Have they changed over time?
Not really. I do not really hold people to their public image, can not recall ever meeting a person who actually was who they acted to be/were as perceived to be, why should I treat him any different? My ultimate opinion of him is that he was a talented writer who wrote some things I like. Beyond that I haven't a clue, I did not know the man and no matter how much a read about him or how many interviews I watch I will never know him.
>He seems pretty divisive.
That is because most people like to pretend that peoples public image is accurate, it makes it easier to believe the lies they tell themselves.

>>16357261
The beer shows clearly. Deal with it, intent is clear.

>>16356580
I like him, he's insightful and well informed

>>16356580
Barely know this dude but I cant respect any fully grown man who regularly wears a bandana I just can't.

>>16357307
Well spend a decade or two on medication which makes you sweat profusely and see how you feel about it then.

>>16356746
>>16356965
Which interview

>>16357346
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iGLzWdT7vGc

>>16357362
Thanks, anon!!

>>16357370
u r welcome anon. Here is a funny edit of all the worst parts[1] of the interview strung together for your enjoyment.

https://youtu.be/pqmIAbHXr0Y


[1] By worst parts, here, I mean his social ticks* and manifestation of self doubt, which is, in fact, discussed in the video itself.

*Generally in threads like this anons think his ticks are funny.[i]

[i] They are funny.

>>16356965
pontificating colloquially generally just means "thinking". i dont know if the interviewer totally realized he was even jokingly saying "express one's opinions in a way considered annoyingly pompous and dogmatic."

>>16357385
fuck off meghead
>>16357370
ignore that guy, dont watch the interivew. something bad will happen if you do

>>16357385
That was a religious experience, I've never felt so connected to a video in my life. Did Megan really edited it? I have a newfound respect for her.

I feel like /lit/ is full of zoomers who haven't actually read any DFW, so if anyone wants to read some of his shorter work here is his article on cruise ships, one of my favorites.
>https://harpers.org/wp-content/uploads/2008/09/HarpersMagazine-1996-01-0007859.pdf
And here is his less funny, but more poignant article about TV.
>https://jsomers.net/DFW_TV.pdf

>>16357449
I order IJ last week, aside from that I've only read Good Old Neon. Have any other recommendation before I read that brick of a book?
English isn't my mother tongue, by the way.

>>16357462
*Any recommendations other than the one's you already posted, hah.

>>16356580
Why does he always wear a du-rag on his head?

>>16357471
>>16357462
The books of his essays are great. Consider the Lobster, A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again. Go listen to his speech "This is Water." I have Brief Interviews and it's interesting, but maybe I just like his essays better. I don't actually know. I'm still working on IJ myself. Second attempt lol.
>>16357490
Dude was super self conscious about his anxiety sweating and I guess just made it part of his look. The late 90's early 00's were not the best period for fashion.

>>16356580
S o yboy

he was a self loathing faggot

>>16357520
Thanks for the recs, anon. How's it going with IJ? Is it actually THAT hard?

>>16357406
Yeah the interview definitely didn't mean it negatively. But DFW was familiar with its more literal meaning and is painfully self-conscious so he naturally took it personally. You can tell by his facial expressions and body language. The cameraman was shitty though and the interviewer was out of her league. He deserved better desu.

>>16357815
I didn't actually felt that the interviewer was bad. She made some very interesting questions desu.

>>16357385
>constantly asking if the interview is going to be cut and edited to remove his bad moments
>she keeps saying yes
>posts the full interview

Kek

>>16357824
That's fair. It doesn't seem like she's properly read or digested his work beyond a surface level understanding but I like that she at least let him talk uninterrupted about broad topics.

>>16356746
What a beautiful comment, dude. It must be one of the best I've read here, unironically.
We'll never met, yet I feel as you were a close friend. I'll to watch the interview tonight.
Godspeed, partyboy anon.

>>16357776
It’s not that it’s hard, it’s just tedious. For example, in the first hundred pages there’s a footnote that’s the entire filmography of a character that’s like 6 pages long. The urge to skip it because most of it is formatting is great. But there’s little hints to the rest of the book sprinkled within them. Then two sentences later he gives you another footnote that’s a one sentence casual throw away line, just to fuck with you flipping this giant tome around. The more I read it, the more I like it though. It has this great meandering quality that snaps you back with some key plot point, and the different sections are nice little stopping points that are shorter than traditional chapters. The main problem (which ones it gets into full swing) is that it’s so damn long. I’ve had to reread the same like, 100+ pages from the last time I read it because I just kinda forgot it all. So I’m reliving the same stress of adapting to it, when, if I had just finished it last time, I wouldn’t have had to do it. I’m excited to see where it goes. I just read some before bed so it’s fresh.
>>16357883
Thank you friend. Hope you enjoy it.

Bumperino

>>16356580
no discernible talent

I like David Foster Wallace a lot and I think all the people that loathe his fans are somehow evidence of how important he is in our moment. Entertainment is getting too good, and irony has this far proved itself to be a really poor way to express discontent with how we live. If his message isn't relevant too America as a whole it sure is to me, and that's probably got something to do with me not being able to keep off an neofacist imageboard that I loathe for any longer than 4 hours. But there really is too many dfw threads desu. At least relative to other writers

>>16358350
>Entertainment is getting too good
Really? What exactly is good about it? I might be just an out of touch oldfag, but everything seems to lack story and nuance, just event after event after event, with each one trying to out do the last.

>>16358415
oh no that was kinda what he was warning against, since the whole plot-mover in the book is this movie thats so good you that you can't stop watching it. I think that's part of why the book is so meandering and long. it's supposed to take more work than something like TV.

>>16357462
1. Read the endnotes with a second bookmark
2. At least read until the end of the Eschaton game scene (<30% of the book)
3. Don't read anything else, especially IJ related material
4. Underline words and phrases not understood
5. Create a color code or timeline for the year system as you go

This will either help you finish the book, or if you don't, it will still help increase your understanding of what you did read, so that you won't wind up rereading it for no reason.

>>16358432
Ignore #2. Just read the book if you are going to read the book.

>>16358460
how can one read the book without at least reading the first 30% of the book?

>>16358486
He means read the whole thing, dont tell yourself you can stop at eschaton

>>16358520
the eschaton scene is after the most common drop off points in the book.
very few people can read the eschaton scene and then tell themselves they can stop.

are you really this retarded?

>>16356580
I've only read The Pale King and Brief Interviews from him so far, but I'm really enjoying it so far. He has such interesting observations sometimes.

>>16356580
>reading infinite jest at 14
wtf this is the best book ever written

>re-reading it at 16
wtf this is nowhere near as good as pynchon and gaddis, dfw was a hack

>re-re-reading it at 18
wtf this is the best book ever written

>>16358560
dude why are you so upset by this. #2 suggests that if you can read until the end of the eschaton scene, you have read enough to know whether or not its worth it to you to finish the book. the reply is that if you start the book you might as well not even think of stoppin it. idk why you're amped enough to call me a retard

>>16358578
It's interesting to me you read the pale king instead of like, a finished book. how was it? I read an excerpt that was put in an anthology and I liked it

>>16358641
He is the sort of person who makes numbered lists for everything, what do you expect? Calling you a retard was #4 in case you were curious. He pops up in DFW threads semi regularly with his list.

>>16358647
TPK is no where near as unfinished as most make it out to be. The only examples most can give are the ones mentioned in introduction or some vague part they will not go into any detail on or discuss. It is pretty great.

>>16358647
The Pale King's premise and the history behind it seemed the most interesting to me, so I've read it first. I'd say it's a good start, even if it doesn't seem like it at first. It's very interesting and sometimes it's hard to describe, cause you have a lot of chapters with stream of consciousness of workers from IRS, with a lot of self-conciousness and interesting life observations. And then you have short chapters when it's basically about how this guy died in one of their offices and no one noticed it for like a few days or so. It's different and interesting, that's for sure, it's about a lot of things, from how deadly boredom can affect you to how IRS job isn't really about the glory and high fives from society, but hard, boring, conscientious work. It may sound a bit boring, but the way he writes it makes it good.

>>16358641
>if you can read until the end of the eschaton scene, you have read enough to know whether or not its worth it to you to finish the book.
but that's actually not bad advice

>>16358664
>He is the sort of person who makes numbered lists for everything,
This is funny because Don Gately's shitty step dad, I forget what he was called, was like this

>>16358664
>>16358671
I'll have to read TPK then, yallve sold me on it. I think I'll read Oblivion first though, because short stories are easier for me to read while I'm in school.

>>16358676
Even a book like IJ is not that big of a commitment, just finish it.

>>16358679
The MP.

Good old neon changed my life

>"As we get more and more, quote, decadent, and more and more unhappy, I think at a certain point, we are going to be desperate enough to have other people just tell as what to do. The form of fascism that goes under the name 'The Christian Right' is going to look viable to a lot of people."
how did he know

I read Infinite Jest first. I liked it, or at least I really liked parts of it. I felt it was weaker because he tried to bring some kind of narrative throughout it which was quite weak in parts. I then read Oblivion and I felt a lot more satisfied with it as a work. Since it's a collection of short stories it drops the pretense of an over arching plot and I think that helps his work immensely. He's very fun to read, imo.

>>16359147
How so?

>>16356580
I've never read any of his works. I have always had the impression he is suited for a particularly American audience and I am not American. Am I wrong? Should I give him a chance?

>>16359278
I have the same doubt, bumpo.

>>16359278
I’m not sure, try reading that article about cruise ships posted earlier in the thread for a bit to see if it’s any good for you.