http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la...,7461856.story
Holy-moly! He was found dead.1
1. He hanged himself.
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la...,7461856.story
Holy-moly! He was found dead.1
1. He hanged himself.
DaggerofChrist unmasked
Sad. Sad, sad, sad.
Whoa. This is really sad. While most people know him for "Infinite Jest," my favorite will always be his essay collection "A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again." I read the state fair, cruise ship and Lost Highway essays probably every three or four months. He was a terrific writer who inspired me in several ways.
Really horrendous, tragic news. Back in the moribund reading days of the mid-'90s, "Infinite Jest" was the equivalent of a literary shot across the bow. And yes, his essays were pretty damn amazing.
woah, just wow. i really liked broom of the system.
From what I read about his Cruise ship essay, it sounds like he may've had manic depression, all the indulgence there sounded like it hit him pretty hard
Bar none my favorite writer. Inspired me to try harder at everything I did. I'm at a loss.
"When they were introduced, he made a witticism, hoping to be liked. She laughed extremely hard, hoping to be liked. Then each drove home alone, staring straight ahead, with the very same twist to their faces.
"The man who'd introduced them didn't much like either of them, though he acted as if he did, anxious as he was to preserve good relations at all times. One never knew, after all, now did one now did one now did one."
-David Foster Wallace, A Radically Condensed History of Postindustrial Life
Last edited by Dr. Feelgood; September 14, 2008 at 7:47 AM.
I was a big fan too, esp. of the essays (glad to see them getting some love here). Really sad. It really sucks.
Can you guys recommend a nice starting point to DFW? I'm interested in checking him out.
(I'm a bit embarrassed by this, but I never really read books or essays.)
Well, here's an article he wrote a few years ago about Roger Federer.Originally Posted by Hated Milk Machine
Book-wise, I'd suggest "A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again," referenced above. "Consider the Lobster" is his most recent essay collection, and it includes an article he wrote about McCain during the 2000 presidential election, so it's somewhat timely. "Infinite Jest" is his best-known novel, but it's...dense.
Last edited by jon; September 14, 2008 at 1:31 PM.
I'm such a mess about this. My friend told me about it last night at a party while the Men In Black theme song was playing. It seemed appropriate in how fucked up it was, somehow.
That sounds like a shitty party.
What is the Men in Black theme song anyway?
The two collections of essays are definitely the strongest material. Skip around in them, read what sounds interesting. The one called "E Unibus Pluram" or whatever is very academic, and I'd recommend skipping that one. Other than that, most all of them are very good.
I did want to add that if you think you might want to read the fiction, start with "Brief Interviews with Hideous Men," which is a collection of stories -- read the "brief interviews" themselves, there are a bunch of those scattered around the book, and I like them a lot. Another good story is "Good Old Neon" from the collection called "Oblivion." If you like those, try more. If you don't like them, forget it.
If you pick up this excellent essay compilation edited by Ira Glass, there is great DFW piece about conservative talk radio. For an all-DFW experience, I'd start with A Supposedly Fun Thing also.
He also wrote a great book review/essay about prescriptive vs. descriptive grammar that is copied here (scroll past the junk at the top; you'll know where the essay starts) and his 2005 commencement speech at Kenyon, which eerily mentions the mindset of a suicide in passing, here.
He was an amazing writer and I was always happy to find an essay of his. I'm sorry that there won't be any more but not nearly as sorry as I am for his wife or for his pain.
Stay Free!
Adult Education: A Useless Lecture Series
The people in my neighborhood
Stand-up clips
A new children's consignment store in Brooklyn For the kids. In my house. Not a joke.
Here's a 1997 interview with Charlie Rose, which is alternately fascinating and kind of sad.
The title essay from Consider The Lobster.
Stay Free!
Adult Education: A Useless Lecture Series
The people in my neighborhood
Stand-up clips
A new children's consignment store in Brooklyn For the kids. In my house. Not a joke.
This is a really sad story, although I wasn't the biggest fan of his writing. Then again, I only read Oblivion, and each sentence was typically two pages long. Are all of his books written like that?
Oblivion doesn't differ from his other works in the lengths of its sentences, but it was much less rewarding for me than his other fiction. Did you get to Good Old Neon? Did you like it? It's the only story from Oblivion on par with most of the stuff from Brief Interviews With Hideous Men and Infinite Jest. I'm personally much more into his fiction than his essays, but you might want to try either of the two essays that put him on the map - A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again or Ticket To The Fair (now both available free from Harpers online in honor of his passing) - and if you like it move on from there.
Don't worry it was irony! It was a hipster party. The rest of the music was a lot cooler. But I feel like none of it would have made a better backdrop for such weird and sad news.
Posting Permissions
Reply With Quote
