/lit/ - Literature

[Anonymous No.11084663]

*you walk into your reading room and see this guy on your reading chair*
>Hello, anon. Someone told me you don't think Derrida is relevant. Care to extrapolate?
Wat do?

[Anonymous No.11084673]

>>11084663
Does a list of the contents of DFW's personal library exist?

[Anonymous No.11084675]

>>11084673
The Encyclopedia of Film

[Anonymous No.11084677]

>>11084673
It was a bunch of extreamly highbrow stuff + self-help books

[Anonymous No.11085139]

Bump

[Anonymous No.11085141]

>>11084663
>reading room

[Anonymous No.11085159]

In what work or interview does he talk about Derrida?

[Anonymous No.11085164]

>>11085141
Whats wrong with having one room dedicated only to the literary actions?

[Anonymous No.11085171]

>cinder blocks stuffed with books
I like this

[Anonymous No.11085173]

>>11085171
Thanks, mom did them for me

[Anonymous No.11085200]

>>11084663
>If you’d gone to heaven, you could’ve asked him yourself.

[Anonymous No.11085554]

>>11084663
In MY library? Get out before I call the cops, ghost.

[Anonymous No.11085652]

>>11084673
http://catalog.lib.utexas.edu/search~S18/?searchtype=x&searcharg=david+foster+wallace+library&searchscope=29&sortdropdown=-&SORT=D&extended=0&SUBMIT=Search&searchlimits=&searchorigarg=xdavid+foster+wallace+library

[dfw No.11085699]

>>11085554
Boooh!

[Anonymous No.11085701]

>>11084673
>>11084677
>>11085652
Summarized:
Postmodern novels (eg dellilo, barth, more obscure stuff like my cousin my gastroenterologist)
literary classics (dostoevsky, kafka, et al)
novels by friends and acquaintances (franzen, costello, zadie smith)
books he wrote essays on (borges biography, best of the prose poem)
analytic philosophy/philosophy of mathematics
books he taught as a professor (thomas harris, short story collections)
nonfiction resources for his novels (book on tax code, book on lockpicking)
literary criticism (mostly 80s and 90s with tendencies towards more theoretical works)
shitty self help books

[Anonymous No.11085705]

>>11084663
>extrapolate

[dfw No.11085715]

>>11085701
>analytic philosophy
Now, finally we can see what his problem was

[Anonymous No.11085724]

>>11085701
>zadie smith
do you think they fugged?

[Anonymous No.11085730]

>>11085715
im not even kidding when i say that analytic philosophy contributed to his suicide. his death is an indictment of anglo-american education at large

[Anonymous No.11085731]

>>11085715
Ignore my post says "dfw" in the name field, please
Thanks, señores

[Anonymous No.11085737]

>>11085705
>Not being up on the /lit/ memes

[Anonymous No.11085738]

>>11085730
Care to extrapolate?

[Anonymous No.11085746]

>>11085724
Zadie on DFW:
>An actual genius...my literary hero
So, yes

[Anonymous No.11085749]

>>11085724
No, he cute tho

[Anonymous No.11085757]

>>11085746
>tfw i will never be an actual genius
Jdimsa
Do I get to be a virtual genius at least?

[Anonymous No.11085788]

>>11084677
He was a sincere fan of Stephen King too btw

[Anonymous No.11085804]

>>11085724
Yeah, before her claim to fame when she was just audience pussy

[Anonymous No.11085872]

>>11085738
in general continental philosophy focuses more on the sweeping post-nietzschean "lebensphilosophie" approach while analytic phil narrows in on discrete "problems" to obsess over. simplifying to the extreme, continental looks outward to find problems and solutions in philosophy (i.e. political and economic explanations) while analytic focuses inward (linguistic, logical explanations). the recursiveness of analytic phil was terrible for someone with a disposition like wallace's, who was prone to fret over the most insignificant issues in his life (cf his struggle to appear "normal" to the extent that his bizarre fashion sense was a failed attempt at a strange man's attempt to look normal/his obsession with complete grammatical correctness [itself an empty and meaningless proposition] borne from his shitty relationship with his mom). maybe he would have been just as fucked if he went down the continental path, but, for better or for worse, people of that persuasion feel less obligated to conform to the status quo since they have all sorts of explanations for the arbitrary nature of what we consider "normal." continental phil at least has a better explanation for why people feel alienated, whereas wallace was rather shallow about the cause of ironical insincerity (alright, TV and ads cause it, but WHY are these media being used to promote these attitudes?)

dfw's relationship with "postmodernism" was always myopically focused on literary postmodernism and the novel form, while largely ignoring the economic basis through which most postmodern cultural critique is rooted. his relationship with continental philosophy was filtered through literary theory, so even though he was reading guys like jameson, foucault, and derrida, it was always as a literary experience first instead of the political critique that's the real impetus behind most of that work (reading derrida without heidegger is ALWAYS a mistake). his engagement with analytic phil allowed him to spin his tires and never really come to new conclusions about himself or the word--much of analytic philosophy in general is built on the notion that even though we don't have the answers yet, the solution is *just* out of reach and will be attainable once we perfect our systems of analysis a little bit more. it's this emotional vacuous that led wallace to supplement his philosophical pursuits with shitty self help books that basically did nothing for him but reentrench those neurotic ideas that he had to just try a little bit harder to be sincere and love other people and pet kittens etc. i dont think anyone who's well versed in continental phil has any need for self-help, since you can always crack open nietzsche or heidegger or whatever post-psychoanalytic thinker strikes your fancy.

[Anonymous No.11085882]

>>11085872
anyway, i probably should have just said that philosophy in the french/german tradition is more focused on improving your life and finding meaning, while analytic busies itself with problems that may or may not produce value someday once the scientists find an application for it.

[Anonymous No.11085910]

why did he pretend to have not read pynchon but never missed an opportunity to fawn over delillo

[Anonymous No.11085925]

>>11085872
Why was he so dumb and didnt just read continental phil. in a better way?

[Anonymous No.11086047]

>>11085925
wallace's intellectual pursuits were always entirely contained within the strictures of various curricula. as a child, he wanted to excel in school and impress his professor parents. in college, he tried to avoid his depression by getting the absolute highest grades (as he himself later admitted). and then of course his entire career as a writer was entangled in the MFA mill. the man never left school and was hostage to its intellectual climate. and american academia of the 80s and 90s was inundated with flagrant misreadings and mistranslations of french philosophers who were being imported to america in droves to give literature departments the sheen of political and """scientific""" importance, while in philosophy the obsession to create the perfect revision to a formal system of metametametaethics was at its autistic fever pitch. meanwhile, academia's influence on "avante-garde" literature largely amounted to making writers think they were being clever if they wrote all their books in anticipation of every single interpretative lens being foisted on their "text." as a stylist, wallace is really the amalgamation of the horrible tendencies of 80s-90s academia. and the thing to know is that "French theory" (or poststructuralist thought or continental philosophy) was brought into the USA through literature departments and as such treated like a tool of literary analysis, while completely ignoring the engagement with the history of philosophy the writers insisted was central to their works. (Eg derrida being the french heidegger/deleuze calling himself a "pure metaphysician"). So wallace knew enough about "continental philosophy" (really just the american bastardization of it) to impress his peers in a college setting and that was good enough for him.

this brings me back to my main point: the failures of wallace as an author and a human being can be blamed largely on his education.

[Anonymous No.11086059]

>>11085738
You see Kripke? You see how he is? That's what anal. philosophy does to you in old age if you don't neck yourself in time.

[Anonymous No.11086114]

>>11085738
>>11086059
Frege
>died like 3 weeks after he was forced to put an "everything in this book is wrong" disclaimer before the title page of his magnum opus
Russell
>literally cucked, seriously considered killing himself after being BTFO by DH lawrence
Witty
>constantly thought about killing himself, couldnt keep a friend for more than 5 years due to frequent autistic analytical spergouts
Godel
>starved to death since his wife wasnt around to make tendies
Schlick
>gunned down by chad nazi
Vienna Circle
>wittgenstein tells them to stop doing philosophy because their version is too autistic even for him

so this is the power of analytic philosophy

[Anonymous No.11086150]

>>11086114
>Russell
"There was a footpath leading across fields to New Southgate, and I used to go there alone to watch the sunset and contemplate suicide. I did not, however, commit suicide, because I wished to know more of mathematics."

What an absolute faggot. He should have just kept this type of beta faggot shit to himself. I'm literally embarrassed reading it rn holy feck.

[Anonymous No.11086158]

>>11086114
I like analytic philosophy but I must confess I haven't keked this hard in a while.

[Anonymous No.11086231]

>>11086047
that's really interesting, is there somewhere to read more about this?

[Anonymous No.11086259]

>>11084663
If things have can have no meaning in Derrida's reality and I am in search of meaning doesn't that imply that I should shun Derrida?

[Anonymous No.11086262]

>>11086231
Literally nothing. That anon is at the edge of the wallacian hermeneutics. You will have to wait at least 20 years before his genius reaches public recognition and his magnum opus is published with footnotes that help brainlets like us understand the scope of his sharp and sui generis intellect.

[Anonymous No.11086273]

>>11084663
Shoot him for breaking and entering

[Anonymous No.11086287]

>>11086273
*dodges your bullet and makes it go at your head with his mind*
You can't ever recover

[Anonymous No.11086299]

>>11086231
for info on wallace: dt max's biography, extrapolations on the list here >>11086047

RE usa's importation of continental thought, "French Theory" by Francois Cusset

>>11086262
well i guess this means you hate me but im sort of taking it as a compliment

[Anonymous No.11086304]

>>11086299
whoops meant the list here >>11085652

[Anonymous No.11086328]

>>11086150
>because I wished to know more of mathematics."
Hahahahahhahaha holyshit what a fucking poseur fag
I really hate when people are open about their suicidal thoughts and tendencies in public
The other day some idiot at college said he had tried to kill himself three (3) times and said it with a poker face that developed a really subtle and smug smile, like saying "yeah, I suffer so much but I also don't care, I'm so cool"
I have suffered from extreme depression, mainly because I was an undiagnosed and untreated manic bipolar, and since I have developed a little of common sense I know being open about that crap is rude and idiotic and attention whoring.
To be fair, Russell didnt really do it in the way this other guy did.
But still, people need to shut the fuck up about their psychological shit, is fucking creepy.
What do you guys think?

[Anonymous No.11086349]

>>11086299
>well i guess this means you hate
No, not at all. I actually enjoyed your post, I just saw the opportunity of acting silly so I did it.
Its the kind of stuff I wish I knew enough about to actually discuss it but I can't because I'm an "smart but lazy XD" lastman who can't commit to his intellectual persuits enough.
Hopefully by the time I fininish my undergrad education in philosophy I will know a thing or two.

[Anonymous No.11086381]

>>11086349
>I'm an "smart but lazy XD" lastman who can't commit to his intellectual persuits enough
maybe you're this way because you just need to put in a little more effort before reaching the joy of having facility in a subject matter that self-perpetuates into greater and greater skill. you'd be surprised how quickly it adds up just by reading every day.

[Anonymous No.11086462]

>>11086381
Thanks for the encourgement, bro
I will try to keep it in mind when the tough times start creeping in.

[Anonymous No.11086830]

>>11086150
Why was he suicidal

[Anonymous No.11086842]

>>11085164
Because you could have a Nintendo Switch in there instead

[Anonymous No.11087244]

>>11086259
Yes but the conditional 'if' is not true so you should read Derrida.

[Anonymous No.11087279]

>>11085715
Three years into this, I changed studies instead of killing myself.

[Anonymous No.11087323]

>>11085872
> Be me third year Analytic student
> School LITERALLY does not have continental philosophy classes
>also took lots of math classes
>constantly stressed over correct applications of logic and two dimensional semantics in casual conversation
>causal networks stress me
Fuck how close am i to heroing

[Anonymous No.11087324]

>>11087279
Gender studies?

[Anonymous No.11087693]

>>11086047
Failure as an author as in he was a bad author or just an unsuccessful one?

[Anonymous No.11087696]

>>11084663
>on your reading chair
Push the chair out and let the rope do its thing

[Anonymous No.11087715]

>>11084663
where do i start with this man?

[Anonymous No.11088026]

>>11086328
Yeah, there’s some weird people who will bring up great traumas in their life without it really being relevant, and I find that stuff annoying and narcissistic. I myself have been suicidally depressed but that’s not like something I want to say in a class and make people feel sorry for and worried for me. You have to give some leeway to narcissists who were raised weirdly by their parents and/or by the influence of social media, though. And even though I myself have been this depressed, I still think (controversially) that there’s something repellent and narcissistic about suicidal depression itself. I’m not a Catholic but their putting despair as a sin is something I understand: it’s a rejection of all that’s good in life and what you could call the grace of God, a sort of wallowing in negativity.

[Anonymous No.11088245]

>>11087693
wallace had talent, but even he himself admitted he was a failure in his higher artistic pursuits. infinite jest was a reaction against the unabashed postmodern cleverness of Broom (which he said read like it was written by a really smart 14 year old). IJ was supposed to be the book that transitioned american lit from postmodernism to a deeper sincerity (this was before the term 'new sincerity' was in vogue, though), but what resulted instead was IJ being the arch example of postmodernism. though there were sections that could be considered "sincere" (basically the whole Gately and Ennett House side of things), when the sincere is mixed with the ironic, the sincere is plunged into a deeper irony, whereas wallace hoped for the inverse: that the true sincerity of "lived experience" and "folk wisdom" would turn the reader against the ironic attitudes that most of the characters promote. wallace got really famous for IJ but for none of the reasons he wanted. most of the press focused on the length of the book (which wallace lamented was too long for any reviewer to complete before their reviews came out) and the "Genius" of wallace (which wallace had always pathologically longed for, but expressing it wasn't his ostensible point in writing IJ). so then he began pale king as the third go round and we all know how that ended up. could pale king have been the sincere masterpiece that wallace longed to write? honestly, i think it could have. but wallace was all too aware that the person he was wasn't the one who could finish the book. if he had completely changed himself and undid a lifetime's worth of academic posturing, he could have written the book about "normal people" that he wanted, but his awareness that he was at his best when he was lampooning the over-clever atmosphere in which he thrived led him to accept that true sincerity was beyond his grasp.

[Anonymous No.11088912]

>>11088026
>great traumas in their life without it really being relevant
DELETE THIS

[Anonymous No.11089487]

>>11087715
Good Old Neon. It's his magnum opus and the easiest to understand.

[Anonymous No.11089512]

Does being suicidal just mean you are more afraid of something than you are afraid of death?

[Anonymous No.11090004]

>>11084663

>Look mittens, a pathetic pseud who's never played tennis in his life.

[Anonymous No.11090611]

>>11086328
>>11088026
Think it's more about the encouragement of being upfront and open on their personal experience, and the expectance of others understanding the problems they have permitted to take a full on victim status and reveling in that shit.
I wouldn't say its wholly narcissistic, but it shouldn't be necessary to fly around the problems you got so everbody have to be aware you get trauma of seeing white drapes in the living room.

[Anonymous No.11091455]

>>11085141
>reading chair

[Anonymous No.11091914]

>>11085872
>>11086047
>>11086114
Serious question because I, brainlet, and I want to make sure I'm understanding what you guys are inferring...

Is the fundamental critique of analytic philosophy/philosophers, essentially, that, at a certain point, they go so obscure or into such an absolutely minute detail of life to "figure out" that it almost becomes laughable and nearly completely irrelevant except to someone who's lived their own personal and exacting experience of life? Basically, if all of philosophy were a single novel of 500,000 words, on their 24th re-reading of it, they find that the 322,971st word hits their subconscious funny because it triggered a memory from their childhood and reminded them of when the neighbor girl from down the street smiled at them and, for the first time, they got a tingle in their willy, and they wonder how that particular word choice could have been handled differently and, next thing you know, they've spent twenty years studying numerology and still haven't figured out why God created the letter S to, not only look and sound like the letter S but also to look and sound like a snake, but maybe that has nothing to do with God and more to do with that's simply what the original people who came up with the letter drew it like because that's what a snake looked and sounded like?

I don't know if any of that made sense but, in case it does, let me know if I've got the right idea.

[Anonymous No.11091936]

>>11085872
>>11086047
You're that one Wallace scholar, aren't you? I've seen you before.

[Anonymous No.11091949]

ask him why he's here if he's dead and whether he knows if someone poisoned my food

[Anonymous No.11091950]

>>11091936
lmao what are you trying to fish for, there's more than one wallace scholar

[Anonymous No.11091960]

>>11091950
Not on /lit/. Don't be a fag, dude, I know it's you.

[Anonymous No.11092218]

>>11085872
>>11086047
>>11088245

Thanks for the great insights. Every now and then /lit/ delivers