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/lit/ - Literature

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1719654 No.1719654 [Reply] [Original]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Foster_Wallace

>Though he made little mention of it in his work, Wallace was a Christian for most of his life, belonging to a church wherever he lived.

>> No.1719660

Yeah, he used to date Victoria Jackson from SNL

>> No.1719659

Fuck god.

>> No.1719690

hahahahahahahah

>> No.1719715
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1719715

I thought he was smart...

>> No.1719721

>Implying that makes his work any less amazing

>> No.1719725
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1719725

>>1719715
>>1719690
>>1719659
>>1719654
Keut samefag trollan, baybee!

>> No.1719736

>wherever he lived.
Be more specific wikipedia,and by more specific i mean be more specific OP.Oh and no one gives a shit OP,fuck off.

>> No.1719738

>>1719654
Yeah no I'm gonna need a source that isn't wikipedia.

>> No.1719749

>Though he made little mention of it in his work, Wallace possessed mutant powers and capabilities for most of his life, belonging to the X-Men wherever he lived.

>> No.1719778

cool

>> No.1719781

gotta add him to my list of theists

>> No.1719790

i feel like i have read essays of his where he mentions his churchgoing activities. he was a midwestern guy, keep in mind.

>> No.1719849

Doesn't take a lot to call yourself a Christian. I'm a Christian. See? Easy. What's that? You want to know what being a Christian entails or requires? Oh I get it, you're one of those militant atheists.

>> No.1719867

he mentions attending services aboard the cruise ship in the essay "A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again"

>> No.1720975

cool

>> No.1720979
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1720979

>people are surprised that a mentally ill man believed in God.

>> No.1721199

I've read 6 or 7 mini-biographies of him, and never knew this. mfw, I guess.

>> No.1721201

I don't fuckin' care, his writing's still the best I've seen.

>> No.1721224

I think he longed for something like a community. His descriptions in Infinite Jest about how Don Gately can't understand the concept of praying to a god in the AA and various passages about Hal's "logical" (in a way that he just grew up without it) atheism seem to me, like DFW wanted to find something in him to relate to other people. The essay on 9/11 was written in such a delicate way that he, in any case, did not want to offend all those lesser educated people congregating in this house where they watched the news and went to church, but rather acknowledge their "good hearts" and, generally, (Christian) values (his Dostoevsky essay) for giving the people something like a crutch for our modern world.

>> No.1721228

Who the fuck cares?

Most of the greatest poetry ever written is religious to some extent, and Shakespeare wrote a large handful of Psalms.

>> No.1721277
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1721277

>>1721228

>a large handful

Also, you're argument is stupid.

Many of the great artists of the past HAD to be religious, and not just so that they keep their jobs.

>> No.1721278

>>1721277
religion is too deep for your modern brain

>> No.1721279
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1721279

>you're = your

>> No.1721292

>wikipedia

Well aside from the dubious source, this wouldn't surprise me. Now, I have zero familiarity with Wallace's work, so I can't say anything for sure one way or the other. I just want to note that in general, restless intellects are often drawn to the anchor of religion and the reassurance of ritual and community, its moral guidance and transcendance of things temporal. And abstract thinkers can find in theology something of a pleasure garden to wander in. Newton and Milton both dedicated time and energy to recording their personal theologies, not to mention (obviously) centuries of scholastic thought as well as the Patristic Fathers.

Most importantly, it's important to remember that "God" isn't synonymous with the American God, who inexplicably supports gun rights and lower taxes.

>> No.1721298

>>1721292

>Most importantly, it's important to remember that "God" isn't synonymous with the American God, who inexplicably supports gun rights and lower taxes.


I LOVE YOU

>> No.1721315
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1721315

>>1721292

>restless intellects are often drawn to the anchor of religion and the reassurance of ritual and community, its moral guidance and transcendance of things temporal

Tolstoy tried this, although he was conscious how intellectually suicide religion is. He even wrote his own Gospel, removing all the miracles and supernatural feats of Jesus and mostly recorded the humanitarian and pacifist things he said.

In the end, even this wasn't sufficient to resolve his exception intellectual search for some metaphysical stability.

>Most importantly, it's important to remember that "God" isn't synonymous with the American God

No, but the American God (or any example from the numerous amounts corrupting, authoritarian deities you want to choose) will always be there as long as people continue to believe in absurdities like religion.

Cut off the head and the body will die.

>> No.1721351

>Though he made little mention of it in his work, Wallace was an avid shooter for most of his life, belonging to a gun range wherever he lived.

>> No.1721364

>Though he made little mention of it in his work, Wallace was suicidal for most of his life, belonging to a graveyard wherever he lived.

>> No.1721374

>>1721315
I don't want to get into a religious shouting match, though OP may have wanted it to go this way, but I really think you are wrong here.

First, I don't know what your argument is in your first exposition of Tolstoy. That moral guidance depends on a belief in miracles and metaphysical stability?

Second, you don't seem to realize that the Evangelical movement has cut off its own head from forty years of being too closely tied to the Right. And it's true, atheism and agnosticism are more of a force now than they were forty years ago, but many people now describe themselves as "spiritual but not religious". This is to say, they will not or cannot accept a purely materialist explanation of the world. Does this mean they embrace "absurdities" not supported by empirical evidence? Perhaps. But to me, it is absurd to only base our beliefs on empirical evidence. This is not to say we should promiscuously embrace the illogical, only that we should acknowledge that much of our existence is based on faith.