Further Proof of the Evil Nature of D.F.W.

[Derek C. Maus]

On Sun, 13 Dec 1998, Matt Treyvaud wrote:

> If you ask me, the only reason [David Foster Wallace] gets mentioned in
> the same breath as Pynchon is...

...because he writes really long books that seem really intellectual to a
general reading public that thinks Wally Lamb is an existentialist. Sorry
if it offends the sensibility of anyone, but there was no way in hell I
was going on for another 900 pages after 100 pages of blather like the
opening .10 of _INFINITE JEST_.

The difference between Pynchon and Wallace is like the difference between
Cormac McCarthy and Charles Frazier, or the difference between John
LeCarre and Tom Clancy. There's nothing inherently *bad* about the latter
in each pair, but they are heavily influenced and (more importantly)
imitative. In the case of Wallace, I find him to be a particularly
unskilled imitator who is in dire need of an editor who will say "Stop!"
"Cut!" and "Quit ripping off WHITE NOISE!" in a very direct and loud
voice. 

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Derek C. Maus               |   "Don't go around saying the world
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http://www.unc.edu/~dmaus/  |          It was here first."
                            |                  --Mark Twain
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