Whether for it, against it or a little bit each way, all the standard positions have been staked out by now on why writer and Rolling Stone reporter David Lipsky’s most recent contribution to the ongoing David Foster Wallace publication memorial is, or is not, a welcome development. A book-length transcript of a five-day interview conducted and caught on tape by Lipsky in 1996, on the road with Wallace in the immediate wake of the publication of the writer’s magnum opus, Infinite Jest, Although Of Course You End Up Becoming Yourself is, first and foremost, a very compelling melange of two things: love letter and cash cow. On which side, you ask, does it come down more firmly? Probably the former. However, the question of whether the truth lies in one aspect of this text more than the other, of whether it is ultimately more sincere than tasteless, is less interesting than the fact both components exist side by side in the the book together. The very fact that this book manages to so smoothly hold both of these opposites within it, to have its cake and eat it too, thus not only involves David Wallace as subject matter but raises compositional questions of a deeply Wallacian nature.
Last Updated on Saturday, 12 June 2010 09:00
I'm not a champion of Apple (I don't own any), but I do read about their new products with interest because more often than not it means that a piece of general technology I'm interested in will be more affordable in the near future. Thus, the iPad is exciting to me not because I want one, but because it will (hopefully) lead to cheaper ebook readers - I'm after one that supports lots of different, and open, formats - and a touch screen tablet device on which I can install whatever O/S I'd like. The recent iPhone 4 announcement also included the announcement of FaceTime, a wifi only video chat application. I'd be surprised if DFW fans didn't make the connection to the wonderful videophone section in Infinite Jest (which still haunts me every single time I use video chat with friends and relatives online) straight away.
Last Updated on Saturday, 12 June 2010 07:18
Thanks to all the readers who emailed in the last day or so to let me know that the original audio from David Foster Wallace's Kenyon commencement speech (published as This is Water) is now available for purchase at audible.com - you can listen to a preview too. (Also available on itunes and other audiobook retailers) (Note: if you search for this from within amazon.com and then follow the link to audible you'll get an amazon discount - I don't benefit from this as per the usual amazon links - just letting you know how you can get it cheaper!)
Last Updated on Saturday, 12 June 2010 09:00
Let’s be honest. What we’re talking about here is a person’s right to manipulate how others see them, something Wallace apparently struggled with every day of his life, if his writing and interviews are any indication. It’s an inalienable right, but one that depends entirely on our ability to outwit our audience—and so it’s a right that one inevitably loses in death. Death is nothing if not the ultimate loss of control. If it’s condescending for us to appoint ourselves the stewards of a dead man’s memory, it’s also kind of superstitious. It suggests that we believe the author can see us from his cloud somewhere, that he can disapprove of all the hideous things we’re attaching to his memory. Concerns about posthumously released work should center around the living—not the dead. And so rather than ask whether Wallace would have approved, a more important question we might ask, especially as more of his work comes to light, is: “Is this good for us?”
There are a couple of little changes/differences. Improvisation? [via Wallace-l]
Chris writes: But what made reading this review a little uncomfortable was that I feel like I know The Prose Poem: An International Journal pretty well. When I was a student at Providence College, I sat in Peter Johnson’s office literally surrounded by it; copies from the printers were around his entire office in the basement of Philips Memorial Library. As editor and author of the volume, Johnson becomes the object of much of the review’s critique.
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I first mentioned this last year, and now the publication date for David Foster Wallace's philosphy thesis (along with supporting materials) is closing in, December 17th 2010. Unfortunately, the cover of the book reveals that the marketing people at CUP are all over this - the thesis is NOT an easy read - you're going to have to put in some work for this one. That said, I am looking forward to all of the supporting matter because it was very clear when Maureen and I corresponded about this that DFW's thesis is something VERY special. I find it fascinating that DFW was talented in the field of philosophy as well as fiction and non-fiction. As much as this literally looks (That cover... really?) like a cash-in type publication, (Blake Butler over at HTMLGIANT had a bit of a rant about it, the comment thread is interesting) it has been in the works for a long time. James Ryerson is on board for the introduction and you can read about the thesis in his article for the New York Times, Consider the Philosopher.
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