wallace-l: Coverage of DFW

Thu Sep 18 15:36:59 CDT 2008

I hadn't seen it before either.  kottke.org gets the credit for pulling it up.

On Thu, Sep 18, 2008 at 1:30 PM, Tiago A. <eusoutiago at gmail.com> wrote:
> This interview is great, and I wonder why I'd never read (or even listened
> about) it before. There's a point on it where he says he got
>
>>
>> "to discover how extremely remote people's takes on your work are from
>> anything you had in mind when you were working on it, plus how little
>> whatever they feel and think about the work's author has to do with you as
>> you know and experience yourself…".
>
>
> Yes, yes, I think he's kinda talking about us here. Oh, and how elegantly he
> put the whole lot of Interpretive Issues this excerpt conveys in a way any
> 10 yr-old guy could understand. I think this comes from this, somehow:
>
>>
>> "Most of the modern writing I like the best is both sophisticated and
>> colloquial—that is, high-level and complicated but at the same time
>> intimate, sort of like a smart person is sitting right there talking to
>> you—and I think I do little more than try to achieve this same high-low
>> blend."
>
>
> Great interview. One of his best ones.
> On Thu, Sep 18, 2008 at 4:47 PM, Marco Carbone <marco.carbone at gmail.com>
> wrote:
>>
>> He was "a five draft man:"
>>
>>  https://www.amherst.edu/aboutamherst/magazine/extra/node/66410/
>>
>> On Thu, Sep 18, 2008 at 12:26 PM, Dan Scharf <DScharf at henson.com> wrote:
>> > "Seriously---EVERY ONE this guy came in contact with has something good
>> > to say about him. That fact is slowly setting in with me. It's staggering."
>> >
>> >
>> > I know, I've been thinking the same thing - - it's really remarkable.  I
>> > can't think of any public or semi-public person (esp an artist) who has
>> > generated such universal praise as a human being.
>> >
>> > One thing I haven't heard/read much about is re DFW's method of writing.
>> >  Meaning, was he a huge outliner? did he do dozens of drafts? did he write
>> > his essays or short stories in quick bursts of energy, or methodically over
>> > time?  Just curious if there are articles or anecdotes out there that people
>> > know about.
>> >
>> > -----Original Message-----
>> > From: wallace-l-bounces at waste.org [mailto:wallace-l-bounces at waste.org]
>> > On Behalf Of Matt Bucher
>> > Sent: Thursday, September 18, 2008 12:07 PM
>> > To: Mark Brawner
>> > Cc: Wallace-l
>> > Subject: Re: wallace-l: Coverage of DFW
>> >
>> > Sooo many new ones up at McSweeneys: http://mcsweeneys.net/
>> >
>> > This from Adrienne Miller:
>> > "He could also be pissy. He could also be annoying. He could be mean.
>> > He could be remote, and ruthless, and reckless. He was filled with
>> > towering rages. He said that he believed he was 85 percent sincere and
>> > 15 percent full of shit. He lied, but then he would admit that he had
>> > been lying, and would apologize for it, excessively. But he tried to
>> > tell the truth. He tried to find the truth. He tried to be good, and
>> > he was. He was good. He was better than all of us put together.
>> >
>> > And he was-is-loved.
>> >
>> > He is loved he is loved he is loved he is loved he is loved he is
>> > loved he is loved he is loved he is loved he is loved he is loved he
>> > is loved he is loved he is loved he is loved he is loved he is loved
>> > he is loved he is loved he is loved he is loved he is loved he is
>> > loved he is loved he is loved he is loved he is loved he is loved he
>> > is loved he is loved he is loved he is loved he is loved he is loved
>> > he is loved he is loved."
>> >
>> > Seriously---EVERY ONE this guy came in contact with has something good
>> > to say about him. That fact is slowly setting in with me. It's
>> > staggering. To add to what Miller says above about him apologizing
>> > excessively, my personal experiences with the man were framed around
>> > him apologizing to me for a little meaningless exchange the first time
>> > I met him. I had caught him on a bad day, at an event he didn't want
>> > to attend, discussing business he'd rather not have bothered with. We
>> > had a brief back and forth and he was somewhat rude to me, dismissive.
>> > He did not know I was his Biggest Fan. I was crushed, confused. My
>> > wife and my brother saw this happening and they could see the tears of
>> > disillusionment creeping into my eyes, but I defended him! He's really
>> > not like this! He's a nice guy, I swear! He later emailed me a
>> > wonderful apology and sincerely felt bad for "snarling" at me. He sent
>> > me a beautiful card for my wedding and again apologized and offered
>> > heartfelt good will on the marriage. So, even when he was rude (and he
>> > was human), he took responsibility for it, truly felt bad for it.
>> >
>> > I loved him. He was my hero in every sense; I probably idealized him
>> > excessively. And now I feel like I understand him better as a human
>> > being, even though, for the most part, I don't believe it's necessary
>> > or proper or dignified to be too interested in the life of the artist,
>> > especially at the expense of the art. I can't help it, I needed to
>> > know that his depression was really Bad Thing he'd fought for so so
>> > long. And now I just feel so sad for him, reading all these anecdotes
>> > about the minutiae of his life (I can't shake the image of him buying
>> > peanut butter and white bread from a convenience store), which I'm
>> > sure would horrify him.
>> >
>> > When I discovered Wallace's writing and Infinite Jest, something
>> > resonated in me unlike anything else before or after. I felt in his
>> > work a consistent ringing of Truth, a Truth that marries a brilliant
>> > postmodern intellect and sadness with heartfelt humanity and morality.
>> > Now my heart is broken, but I take consolation in the fact that his
>> > art will live on.
>> >
>> >
>> > On Thu, Sep 18, 2008 at 1:40 PM, Mark Brawner <mark.brawner at gmail.com>
>> > wrote:
>> >>
>> >> Matt Bucher offered:
>> >>
>> >> > Scott McLemee in Inside Higher Ed:
>> >> > http://insidehighered.com/views/2008/09/17/mclemee
>> >>
>> >> I haven't really tried to keep up with much of this stuff (I'll
>> >> probably go on "coverage" bender this weekend), but happened to read
>> >> this one just now.  Well done, sez I.
>> >> _______________________________________________
>> >> Wallace-l mailing list
>> >> Wallace-l at waste.org
>> >> https://waste.org/mailman/listinfo/wallace-l
>> >
>> > _______________________________________________
>> > Wallace-l mailing list
>> > Wallace-l at waste.org
>> > https://waste.org/mailman/listinfo/wallace-l
>> >
>> > Watch Jim Henson's "Sid The Science Kid," weekdays on PBS KIDS.
>> >
>> >
>> > _______________________________________________
>> > Wallace-l mailing list
>> > Wallace-l at waste.org
>> > https://waste.org/mailman/listinfo/wallace-l
>> >
>> _______________________________________________
>> Wallace-l mailing list
>> Wallace-l at waste.org
>> https://waste.org/mailman/listinfo/wallace-l
>
>