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/lit/ - Literature

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2966695 No.2966695 [Reply] [Original]

According to the new DFW biography, the dude had sex with a ton of his fans, as well as his friends' girlfriends:
>Wallace hooked up with everyone from friends' girlfriends to countless young fans. He once asked his friend Jonathan Franzen if his only purpose on Earth is "to put my penis in as many vaginas as possible."
I really like him but this is just kind of slimy. Didn't he have a wife?

>> No.2966706

By slimy, do you mean the constant state of his penis? Because it doesn't matter.

>> No.2966718

>>2966706
Yeah, I know it's not supposed to matter, death of authorial intent or whatever, but I can't help but feel a little deceived when reading his essays now.

>> No.2966720

You mean, according to the poorly summarized sensationalist Rolling Stone article trying to entice people into reading the dfw biography.

>> No.2966728

Funny, these new revelations made pick up Infinite Jest.

>> No.2966729

>>2966720
Yes, that's where I got this from, but the guardian and slate also mention this part of the biography.

>> No.2966730

w
h
o

c
a
r
e
s

does it affect his writing? no. so who cares if he slept around with a lot of people?

>> No.2966731

>>2966728

Sorry, bro.

>> No.2966733

>>2966720
>Sure, his friend Jonathan Franzen felt compelled to point out that Wallace was never “Saint Dave,” but it’s another thing entirely to see him walking through the Amherst campus as an undergraduate, remarking on the springtime “smell of cunt in the air.” We later learn that Orin Incandenza’s penchant, in Infinite Jest, for seducing young mothers is in fact something he shared with his creator. We learn about DFW’s womanizing, about his book-tour fondness for “audience pussy,” and that he once wondered aloud to Franzen about whether his only purpose in life was “to put my penis in as many vaginas as possible.”

>> No.2966736

>criticizing a dude for getting laid too much

only on /lit/, kids

>> No.2966738

>>2966730
I thought very highly of him, so I kind of care.

>> No.2966744

>>2966736
This is actually a 4chan-wide thing. Especially on /a/ and the other anime related boards.

>> No.2966745

>>2966738
well you were kind of fucking dumb then

werent you

deal w the fact that all authros and all people are human beings and therefore do shitty things sometime sand don't live up to their own ideals and sometiems even do things like sleep around with a whole lot of people (shock!) and learn to deal with people who aren't perfect

>> No.2966748

>>2966738
Why? Is his purity spoiled for you? Did you want to hit it first?

>> No.2966759 [DELETED] 
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2966759

>>2966744
>>2966744
>>2966744
>>2966744
>>2966744
>>2966744
Nice dubs bro

>> No.2966771

>>2966759
That white king isn't in check, and Bale doesn't even have his queen left.

>> No.2966775
File: 165 KB, 300x411, 1346433096479.png [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
2966775

Well, it does matter for me, because I thought he was a socially awkward assburger like me. Not sure if I can Identify anymore.

Anyone else mad for this reason?

>> No.2966776

>>2966744
>visiting /a/ and the other anime related boards
>knowing anything about /a/ and the other anime related boards

>> No.2966783

>>2966775
OP here, I've been given the same impression. DFW is no longer the person he seems like on paper.

>> No.2966793

Come on, all artists are terrible people. Having sex with lots of women isn't even that bad, or did he rape them or something? I wouldn't care if he did, though.

>> No.2966799

He was only married in 04.

Anyone else remember that thread a month or so ago with some faggot talking about hooking up with DFW through an anonygay site? Seems hilariously plausible at this point.

Doesn't affect his writing whatsoever.

>> No.2966815

>>2966775
Wut. Dude played tennis, had cool wavy hair, and wore bandanas, no? Compared to most writers, he kinda looked like a rock star. I see nothing there suggesting 4chan-style social awkwardness.

Disclaimer: I haven't actually read his stuff and am pretty much going entirely on pictures.

>> No.2966819

I don't know where all this 'information' is coming from, but I doubt he had sex with lots (or any) of female fans, or hookers. Or hookers who were fans.

>> No.2966820

>>2966815
Further point: are the big writers EVER that socially awkward? Seems to me that to write decent characters and dialogue you need to know people and not be a weird crazy shut-in. I may be very wrong with that assumption, but it seems logical to me.

>> No.2966826

the new bio is chock full of out-of-context sensationalist bullshit. the appropriate amount of time has passed since his death, and because the public is both properly removed yet still vaguely interested, tabloid biographies like this can be published

>> No.2966827

It's all bullshit. Just look at the guy. They're just trying to drum up publicity for the biography.

>> No.2966833

http://www.rollingstone.com/culture/news/six-things-you-didnt-know-about-david-foster-wallace-201208
27

>reading rolling stone
>not realizing that the people writing this article likely didn't even read the biography
>not realizing that the biography itself is a necessarily revisionist, simplistic text, and that rolling stone dumbs it own even further

ishigydintdt

>> No.2966837

>>2966815
Look up his German interview on Youtube. Awkward as hell. Extra pretentious, too. If DFW had posted on 4chan when he was younger, he never would have bothered writing because people would make fun of his bullshit and destroy his already poor self confidence.

>> No.2966839 [DELETED] 

>>2966837
sauce?

>> No.2966840

>>2966827
>Just look at the guy
Who, DFW? Are you suggesting he couldn't put his penis in lots of vaginas? Seems entirely possible to me... he's not the fookin' elephant man.

>> No.2966842

>>2966820
The myth of the lone, shut-in writer is bizarre. Almost every successful writer was a man of the people and very social within some community.

>> No.2966843

DFW was a loser who couldn't even control his own mind.

>> No.2966846

>>2966842
thats what usually happens after you became successful

>> No.2966847

>>2966839
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N5IDAnB_rns
>>2966840
His face is busted and he talks like he's just coming out of downs syndrome, but other than that he's not too bad.

>> No.2966849

>>2966846
Not true. The lives of most successful writers of the past are documented as lively and actively social. Joyce included.

>> No.2966850

>>2966842
What exceptions are there? Emily Dickinson? Thoreau? The Brontës?

>> No.2966857

Talk about honesty,then fuck your friends girl friends and plan to murder . No problem there.

>> No.2966858

>>2966850
thoreau was v social

there are other exceptions who were, not solitary, but maybe kept to a limited circle. but i can't be botherd to think of any.

>> No.2966885

>>2966815
he describes himself as borderline agoraphobic in his nonfiction work and has written some of the most accurate accounts of social anxiety i've ever read.

>> No.2966890

Just because DFW made some remarks about putting his benis in many baginas doesn't necessarily mean he was actually a womaniser. Although I'm sure that as a hip and famous author he certainly did get plenty of "audience pussy". Women literally throw themselves at famous men, it's kind of pathetic.

>> No.2966892

It's amazing how people on /lit/ are so bent upon defaming DFW that they're actively scouring the internet for any dirt they can find on him. The stupid fucking Rolling Stone article in question is from August 30 and OP got there by looking up the Mary Karr quote from the other thread.

Why couldn't you just keep this cesspool of shit in that other thread? Why did you have to start a new one? Every fucking day: Tao Lin thread, DFW sucks thread, "Is it wrong to kill people and have no feelings?" thread. Instead of asking why DFW was trying to get his dick wet, ask yourself why you're so fucking gullible to fall for this slander that exists only to push sales of a shitty fucking biography made at the expense of a person with actual talent.

Go read a fucking book and discuss it here, otherwise go to /b/.

>> No.2966902

>>2966892

>not knowing the difference between slander and libel
>ISHYGDDT

>> No.2966906

>>2966902
fuck you

>> No.2966919

>>2966892
You're right, this "defamation" of DFW is so random and has nothing to do with that recent biography that came out.

>> No.2966946

>>2966892
Yeah, but DFW killed himself because he knew he hadn't any talent.

>> No.2966955

>>2966946
oh boy here we go.divx

>> No.2966956

>>2966946
you're just jelly because he railed more pussy than you could ever dream of. dfw haters confirmed for beta males

>> No.2966971

>>2966956
I'm gay.

>> No.2966987

>>2966956
When a typical beer pong playin' bro says "I can small the cunt in the air", do you automatically think he is getting laid often?

More like, DFW confirmed for bro-tier douchebag.

>> No.2966993

>Yeah, but DFW killed himself because he knew he hadn't any talent.

hipster wanker tried to imitate Mishima

>> No.2967002

>>2966971
faggot

>> No.2967007

>He once asked his friend Jonathan Franzen if his only purpose on Earth is "to put my penis in as many vaginas as possible."
Real talk here: if you're a dude, isn't that your purpose?

>> No.2967077

>the dude had sex with a ton of his fans

sounds like every famous author
nothing to see here

>> No.2967096

I kill for my dick when I'm not playing tennis.

>> No.2967099

>>2967007
Yep.

>> No.2967133

I don't care about DFW, but it does matter.

True. This is what an author should be. Everything he writes should be true and honest. A greater man than me said it.

>> No.2967153

Who hasn't said a few really douchey things in their lifetime? I don't get why everyone is freaking out about it.
Except for maybe that whole attempted murder thing

>> No.2967527
File: 417 KB, 690x517, dfwontheflore.png [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
2967527

>>2966956
something about dfw tells me that he is the sort who "weasels" his way into pussy at the end of house parties while all the drunks are filing out, def not the sort that rails it by the score high on MDMA after a wild night grinding asses at the club

also he wore a do-rag and kept 'bulk'mussels with no underlying tone

<-this is literally him, hoping his jr. hs swole will get him pity laid by goth chubs, desperate~

>> No.2967538

>>2967527
>literally

I literally wanna punch you.

>> No.2967542

>>2967527
I dunno. DFW tried quite a few drugs. I wouldn't be surprised if he was railing lines of molly, not even flinching at the burn, then licking salt off some girls tits before hammering back his tequila.

>> No.2967598

>>2967538
typical DFW autist, getting embarrassingly prescriptive over minor patterns of language use you don't fully understand and that you have been told are incorrect by some "authority" figure at some point in your life

just fyi so you don't ever embarrass yourself in front of people who actually matter, literal/literally can be used as a figurative intensifier and often is by nearly every native speaker

>> No.2967605
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2967605

>>2967538
>he doesn't know how to use literally!

>> No.2967612

>>2967598
Saying literally figuratively is literally annoying.

>> No.2967615

>>2967598
Your butt seems to be literally devastated.

>> No.2967626

>>2967612
people who, like, say 'literally' a lot, like seem to say 'like' too, and it's, you know, like, literally not as annoying as 'you know'. Oh, my god, i'm like, literally not even kidding.

>> No.2967627

>>2966775
If you were a big-time author who had qt hipster bitches creaming themselves to your prose, you'd probably end up the same way.

>> No.2967645

>>2967527
i smiled at the milhouse comparison, but nah. he was a big shot author, his social rank is huge. plus he has a pretty big hipster following, so the audience pussy was probably top notch, too.

also, dfw is not remotely prescriptivist, anyone who has read a page of his writing could tell you that.

>> No.2968475

The irony is, this particular guy was so strongly opposed to the concept of Death of the Author.
Oh DFW.

>> No.2968497

Out of context. DFW is not slimy, simply tragic. The letter to Franzen, in context, is not slimy, at all. More an expression of angst.
DFW is a pretty earnest, human person who wanted to be understood, and for society to prize understanding and ease of communication, virtues whose beauty is most evident and overt in AA meetings.
He only had a wife, later.
Read the biography. It's pretty good.

>> No.2968507

>>2967645
DFW self-identifies as a prescriptivist.

>> No.2968520
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2968520

I don't care about this, and suspected it. But I felt what guys are feeling now when I found out Chuck Palahnuik was gay, particularly because he pretended he was straight for years. It ruined Fight Club.

>> No.2968524

>>2968497
>tragic
>wanted to be understood

Sounds like you're about as deep as a puddle.

>> No.2968531

>>2968520
I don't see how that ruins Fight Club.

Was Notes from Underground or the first volume of Either/Or ruined to me because I found out Dostoyevsky/Kierkegaard were orthodox/existentialist Christians who held those works to be antithetical to their beliefs? If anything, they enhanced it and made me appreciate them more.

>> No.2968565

>>2968531
because its now s&m for fags

>> No.2968574

>>2968507
Have you read his essay Authority and Maerican Usage?

>> No.2968575

>>2968531
Is it possible to ruin Fight Club? that would mean it was good to begin with

>> No.2968576

>>2968574
*American

>> No.2968585

>>2968524
I wish that sometimes, people would just choose not to be douches.
Yes, the concept seems shallow. If you want to pick one narrow part of what I said and magnify it to reflect on Wallace's entire character, you could call him shallow, too.
The desires for understanding and human connection are the most powerful, obvious threads throughout Wallace's work. If you can't see this, you are a fucking idiot.

>> No.2970144

Why do you like him?

He was the biggest sham in literary history.

>> No.2970527

Don't fall for this garbage. They're just trying to sell you a book.

>> No.2970535

>>2966833

Agreed. Biographies try to place a clean narrative over the past (often a narrative the biographer has already decided on before starting the research), and in this case, are CLEARLY meant to say le EDGY XD stuff to sell books.

Just read Although Of Course You End Up Becoming Yourself, and if you're a crazy fan, drive to Austin and read all his personal stuff.

>> No.2970538
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2970538

>>2967153
Seriously, I feel like DFW's radically-condensed murder plot is really being overlooked.

>> No.2970541

...and the New Sincerity came riding in with kneehighs tucked in Nikes, fresh to def. A pair of khaki cargos and a sweatrag. All bow down.

>> No.2970546

>>2970535
If I ever just happen to be in Austin, I plan on viewing those materials.

>> No.2970554

OP's getting more shit in this thread than I would have expected. I know how you feel, OP. Learning about a major and unexpected part of an author's personality, especially one you really like, will frequently change the way you look at their works.

>> No.2970563

who hasn't killed for their cock? It's normal, right guys?

>> No.2970652

Is the biography actually legitimate? I read this:

http://www.slate.com/articles/arts/books/2012/09/d_t_max_s_david_foster_wallace_biography_every_love
_story_is_a_ghost_story_reviewed_.2.html

and just fucking cringed at this part:

>The extensive, substance-soaked wreckage of Wallace’s romantic life is, for one thing, detailed in horribly fascinating detail. Often, this is done in ways that illuminate Wallace’s work, or at least the background to it. (The real-life model for the protagonist of Wallace’s excruciatingly brilliant short story “The Depressed Person,” Max tells us, was Wurtzel.) More often, though, it’s just plain gruesome—and nowhere more than in Max’s detailing of Wallace’s relationship with the poet and novelist Mary Karr, who was married with a teenage son when he met her through a recovery program. He turns up at a pool party Karr is attending with her family, a bandage on his shoulder covering a fresh tattoo of her name. He contacts an ex-con fellow AA member looking to buy a gun to shoot Karr’s husband. He tries to push her from a moving car. During another fight, he throws—literally throws—a coffee table at her.

Please tell me they just made this shit up. It makes Wallace look like a huge fucking hypocrite, I know he often criticized himself in interviews, but this stuff just paints him as a complete psycho.

>> No.2970654

>>2967007
>>2967099
>degrading yourselves

glad i don't apply a pop-sci understanding (or any understanding) of evolution to my life

>> No.2970677

If I've learned one thing from this whole debacle, it's that Pynchon and Salinger had the right idea in shying away from interviews and photographers. It's impossible to be "sincere" or truthful or anything once you've become an icon in mass media. People will just as soon embrace you for your looks and affect as they will reject you for your faults and personal life.

>> No.2970682

>>2970652
Did you not pick up the psycho part from his Charlie Rose interview? Dude is not normal

>> No.2970693

>>2970682

He seemed a bit self-conscious, but overall came off as intelligent and thoughtful. I mean he obviously cared a lot about how others perceived him, maybe now we know why...

But seriously, I mean the stuff I read in that article is beyond anything I thought he would do. Before, when I thought DFW, I did not think "adulterer, horny asshole, woman-beater, or attempted murderer." I'm still not fully convinced that this biography is truthful. Has Franzen actually spoken about this stuff?

>> No.2970695

DFW is a fraud. That's why he killed himself.

>> No.2970712

>>2970693
>he obviously cared a lot about how others perceived him

Wouldn't have been a problem if he had gone the reclusive route. Television ate him up, which is fitting considering the subject matter of his work.

>> No.2970750

>>2970712
Yes, it was the TVs fault. Marilyn Manson was behind the columbine murders.

>> No.2971087

Is the biography actually legitimate? I read this

>>2966695

and just fucking cringed at this part:

>his friend Jonathan Franzen

>> No.2971203

>>2970652
Turns out he's an overpriveleged psycho given to temper tantrums.

>shows up at pool party with name tattooed on him

Like, that is some crazy awful shit right there.

>> No.2971211

>>2970554

Makes him seem like more of a guy to me. I like knowing that he wasn't some beta afraid of getting his dick wet.

Dude just gained points in my book.

>> No.2971248

>>2971211
fuck off normal

>> No.2971465

Interesting.

Curious if it's true that he tried to have this women's husband killed.

Also if he slept around, not that big a deal.

Think about it, he used drugs in the past, drugs make people do crazy shit. It's no wonder he presents drug use/abuse and violence so well in Infinite Jest. Same goes for rehab, he lived that shit.

It make just make sense.

Don't know if it's true though.

>> No.2972365

>>2970654
so, um,

what's your purpose then?

(You had ONE JOB.)

>> No.2972385

>>2966695
>his friend Jonathan Franzen

Isn't this slimier?

>> No.2972389

How do people even manage to have sex that easily/casually?

I'm 25 and even having a girlfriend feels like a quest as hard as walking to Mordor to destroy the Ring - and I haven't succeeded yet

>> No.2972399

>>2972385
ahahahahahaha damn (it's true tho)

>> No.2972403

>>2972389
And how do you score with:
* looks and physical fitness
* personality
* money
* talent
* social skills
* confidence?

I'm sure the answer lies in there somewhere.

>> No.2972422

>>2972389
>has trouble scoring sex
>uses a LOTR metaphor

I think we have found your problem.

>> No.2972440

>>2968475
Not trying to contradict you, but do you have source on this?

>> No.2972452

>>2972422
Dude, only repressed highschool kids and lecherous impotent men are obsessed with 'scoring sex'.

In that sense you're both equally pathetic.

>> No.2972453

>>2972422
I don't even like or quote LOTR in real life, it's just the first comparison (not a metaphor) that popped in my head.

>> No.2972464

If you read his short story Good Old Neon he talks about trying to have sex with someone everyday of the month just to see if he could/trying to impress himself and others.
He developed some type of STD from it (nothing very serious but i forgot what the disease was). He told his friends about it trying to impress them and he felt that he did impress them by a little even though the joked about it.

>> No.2972484

>>2972440
Read his essay 'Greatly Exaggerated', it's a review of some guys book about the death of an author.

>> No.2972486

All along I had perceived Wallace as the reserved author, extremely intelligent but always attempting to uphold an image of earnest and humility. I never, ever imagined him as a pussy slayer. All this info really tainted my perception towards him as an entity but I don't think it will affect how I read his works.