David Foster Wallace Alert!

[Geof Starr]

>In the latest "Premier" magazine he writes about David Lynch -- with
>footnotes.

Pardon me if this has already been brought to light, but Mr. Wallace also has a
lengthy piece (flurried with footnotes [1]) on a budding tennis pro in last
month's "Esquire" (participants in IJ will find themselves nodding knowingly as
the read along.) I read only half the "Premiere" article, but I think the
"Esquire" one has a bit more cohesion -- although it _does_ basically boil down
to Mr. Wallace using the subject as a springboard to noodle around in his pasta
bowl.

As to whether I appraise this highly or poorly (sic), I am still unsure.[2] I
still haven't settled on  my assessment of IJ [3].  I do know that of all three
of Wallace's published offerings, I think his short story collection ("Girl with
the curious hair") is the most satisfying.

gee out (has been lurking for two-three months [save for a hiccup a while back])


------
[1] Which trick, of course, W. T. Vollmann has being leveraging for some time
now. Truth told, I actually enjoy this stunt and, indeed, ofttimes use it in my
own stuff (even when I'm not being parodical.) We youth seem to be enamored with
pinched-continuum narratives of late.

[2] Primarily because I haven't decided  whether to approach it from the path of
Clive Bell or the path of Duke Ellington.

[3] Although I will comment on a few points, to wit: (a) I've heard it has
moments of genius; I myself would hedge a bit and say that it has many moments
of daredevil cleverness, (b) there are several times in IJ where I wonder if Mr.
Wallace is not suffering a bit from the Benvolio Effect and writing just to see
himself fill up another page, (c) it bugs me that some of his urban legends have
already been covered before in highly visible media (e.g., the dog tied to the
bumper bit, which was in Nat'l Lampoon's "Family Vacation" or whatever, for
crying out loud!), (d) more comments availble on request.