David Foster Wallace RIP

zhao

there are no accidents
loved infinite jest... i suppose maybe it's what happens when one examines the grotesque intricacies of labyrinthine neurosis addiction mental disorders and depravity as close as he did? or maybe it's true one only writes what he knows... all those stories are somewhat like literary Lucian Freud paintings in my mind... takes on a new dimension in light of this tragedy.

rest in peace...
 
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jenks

thread death
Shit.

I am genuinely shocked.

Just read back through the Literature posts and just see how many times his name comes up

Fuck
 

IdleRich

IdleRich
"You really must - I think you'd love it.

Been reading bits about his death on the net and I still find it all a bit of shock."
I will for sure. Always assumed that it would be by a living author when I did though. This is a very odd and very sad turn of events.
 

woops

is not like other people
rip dfw

This is for people who haven't read 'Infinite Jest'.

This is for people who have.

This is for me and everyone here knows it...
 
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empty mirror

remember the jackalope
^ Yes, indeed. I am so enamored with Mario Incandenza for some reason.

This book has me smoking illicit substances, obsessively watching the tennis channel, and religiously playing Wii tennis with more self-awareness than usual; I do this anyway, but the book is blurring the line between fiction and the workaday.

I am nearly 400 pages in and I wish I knew someone else that was reading it.

I read up on Microwave ovens in the meantime---okay, I only read the wiki. Still very compelling; hard to imagine that the little box that is so commonplace is related to the first commercial microwave which stood over 6 feet tall, weighing more than your average football lineman (and costing $5K US back in 1947).

I get the sense that DFW was writing this book while propping open both Gravity's Rainbow and The Recognitions. I am okay with this.
 

jenks

thread death
So glad you are enjoying it.

My friend and I still talk about hearing the wheel squeak.

I see that Rolling Stone has an article on the last days of DFW and that his portrait of the Mcain campaign in 2000 is now out in book form.
 

empty mirror

remember the jackalope
I just read that Rolling Stone piece he wrote about McCain. The first couple pages were riveting, and then my eyes started to glaze over. I can't seem to read things on the internet.

Seems like the McCain we are looking at now is a different beast. Contemplation of his recent metamorphosis can lead one to thoughts of self-annihilation.
 

faustus

Well-known member
just read all the 'oblivion' stories over a couple of days. some sick stories there. first one (mr. something?) was really cool, and 'philosophy and the mirror of nature' is just sort of perfectly unsettling in a really concise way. brrr
 
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