I've been sitting on this for a while so I was glad to hear (thanks, Matt) that the word is starting to get out about Maureen Eckert and Steven M. Cahn's co-edited publication, Fate, Logic and Language: David Foster Wallace's Essay on Fatalism Fate, Logic and Language by David Foster Wallace (due 2010).

 

I have been looking forward to this as I found DFW's thesis very difficult and am happy to admit I gave up when the going got tough. I just don't have the philosphy background to understand it. I know Maureen is very excited about the importance of Wallace's thesis, and I am looking forward to the commentary and other materials in this volume.

 

Maureen will deliver a paper at the Footnotes Conference, “Where the Conversation Lapses…Understanding DFW’s Philosophy Thesis”. I simply can't wait.

 

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Fate, Logic and Language: David Foster Wallace's Essay on Fatalism, book co-edited with Steven M. Cahn, forthcoming Fall 2010 from Columbia University Press

Contents will include David Foster Wallace’s philosophy thesis, “Richard Taylor’s ‘Fatalism’ and the Semantics of Physical Modality,” Richard Taylor's essay "Fatalism," responses to and defenses of Taylor's argument, explanatory essays regarding David Foster Wallace's work and essays on the philosophical material. An essay by me [Maureen Eckert], "Renewing the Conversation on Fatalism," will address the changes in philosophy that occurred between the debate on Taylor's argument and Wallace's thesis that enabled him to respond to the argument in a novel way.

 

The Conference Schedule for the Footnotes: New Directions in David Foster Wallace Studies is up, and it looks amazing.

The Footnotes: New Directions in David Foster Wallace Studies conference organisers have opened registrations for the conference on Nov 20th:

 

 

Hope to see some of you there!

UPDATE: Thanks to the editors over at The Lifted Brow I can confirm that the excerpt is previously unpublished, about 2000 words, and currently untitled...

 

The Lifted Brow #6, an Australian publication (Yay!) will feature an excerpt from The Pale King. No idea if it is something we have already seen (Good People, The Compliance Branch, Wiggle Room, or Irrelevant Bob - pg 2), or something new, but I've asked them and hopefully we'll find out soon.  (Thanks for spotting this, Matt)

 

Also, I have word that the Fall 2010 release of The Pale King is not technically a delay seeing as we didn't have a firm release date prior to this. 

Thanks for being patient everyone. Have any readers seen the Brief Interviews movie yet? Alas, I'm not sure it will ever show in Australia - I'll have to wait for DVD I expect. 

 

There is a big spread in the reviews, some DFW fans I've spoken to have said it was great. Maybe it helps to be familiar with the source material?

 

I've collected many reviews and interviews below if you're keen to read more about the film.

 

New York Magazine Movies - The Awful Truth

Indiewire - Distinctly Non-Commercial

Time Out New York -Brief Interviews with Hideous Men

The Village Voice - John Krasinski Makes a Mess of DFW's Hideous Men

New York Press - Taking the Word ‘Brief’ Too Far

AP - No time for insight in`Brief Interviews'

NY1 - NY1 Movie Review

The L Magazine -Brief Interviews with Hideous Men: The Remix

IFC.com - In the Company of "Men" with John Krasinski

New York Post - All talk and no attraction

amc film critic - Brief Interviews with Hideous Men

New York Times Movies - How Are Guys Flawed? Let Us Count the Ways

USA TOday - 'Brief Interviews With Hideous Men' is uneven but interesting

News Blaze - Dumped Doctoral Student Does Dissertation on Dudes

A.V. Club - Brief Interviews with Hideous Men

BoxOffice - Brief Interviews with Hideous Men

The New York Observer - Brief Interviews with Hideous Men: The John Krasinski Show

flavorwire - The Trouble with Adapting David Foster Wallace’s “Brief Interviews” for the Big Screen

New Jersey Newsroom - ‘Brief Interviews with Hideous Men’ a talent-rich directorial debut

Slant Magazine - Brief Interviews with Hideous Men

silive.com - Brief Interviews with Hideous Men  

Time Magazine - Brief Interviews with Hideous Men: Heavy on the Hideous

Daemon's Movies - Brief Interviews with Hideous Men

The Huffington Post - Brief Interviews with Hideous Men: Women and (Mostly) Men

Cinematical - Brief Interviews with Hideous Men

Washington Square News - Krasinski adapts Foster Wallace, does it right

ScreenCrave - Brief Interviews with Hideous Men Response and Trailer

The House Next Door - Brief Interviews with Hideous Men and Rage (via Halloween 2)

Black Book Mag - Brief Interviews with Hideous Men 

Rotten Tomatoes - Brief Interviews with Hideous Men

 

 

amctv.com -  Q&A - The Office's John Krasinski on His Brief Interviews With Hideous Men

ComingSoon.net - Exclusive: Brief Interviews with Hideous Filmmakers

NPR Interview (Audio) - A Brief Interview With The Makers Of 'Hideous Men'

Cinematical(Audio) -Interview

JANie - IFC Post Screening Q&A

The TV Chick - EXCLUSIVE: A (not-so-brief) Interview With A (not-so-hideous) Man: John Krasinski

New York Magazine - Director John Krasinski on Adapting David Foster Wallace

California Chronicle - John Krasinski Talks DFW, 'Brief Interviews'

Yale Daily News - Brief interview with very happy man

Movie Line - Julianne Nicholson on Hideous Men, John Krasinski, and the Eccentric Jeff Goldblum

 

 

ComingSoon.net  

Stephen J. Burn (author of Infinite Jest: A Reader's Guide) will present the keynote at the Footnotes: New Directions in David Foster Wallace Studies conference on November 20 this year.