RECLAIMING DAVID FOSTER WALLACE FROM THE LIT-BROS
David Morris
fqmorris at gmail.com
Thu Aug 20 14:08:37 CDT 2015
The only DFW novel I read was "The Broom of the System." I hated it for
all the reasons Tommy lists. I've avoided IJ because it it. Looks like my
opinion is shared by some.
David Morris
On Thu, Aug 20, 2015 at 2:00 PM, Tommy Pinecone <endaflynn345 at gmail.com>
wrote:
> Like Danny, I have a blinding hatred of the book. Not for any of the race
> business, but because of how gimmicky and full of cheap thrills it is.
>
> Mark mentioned Pynchon's worldview: from that perspective of reading for
> the author's views, Wallace has some interesting things to say; though they
> are within sight of anyone who is perceptive in the slightest.
>
> Harold Bloom said it best when he commented that he cannot think and
> cannot write, no matter how charming he is, it's just the way it is.
> Infinite Jest read next to Hamlet, Anna Karenina, The Recognitions or GR
> should make it clear that the mere fact he is mentioned so often, let alone
> here, is an absurdity. He may be the best among the like of Eggers and
> Franzen, but it doesn't mean he is a good writer in any sense of the word.
> On 20 Aug 2015 17:37, "Danny Weltman" <danny.weltman at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> I read it and hated it with a burning passion. It's as if someone read
>> Pynchon and said "these books would be better if they were basically only
>> about white men, and anyone who isn't white should probably be a racist
>> caricature. Oh, and footnotes - that is what Pynchon is missing. Lots of
>> footnotes. That'll really kick the postmodernism up a notch."
>>
>> On Thu, Aug 20, 2015 at 9:24 AM, Jacob Carey <aristotle114 at gmail.com>
>> wrote:
>>
>>> I read it, I didn't know that people lied about it. So weird.
>>>
>>> On Thu, Aug 20, 2015 at 12:23 PM, Johnny Marr <marrja at gmail.com> wrote:
>>>
>>>> I have read Infinite Jest. I once mentioned this in passing to my
>>>> girlfriend, who instantly accused me of "posturing".
>>>>
>>>> THIS IS A GAME NOBODY CAN WIN.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> On Thursday, August 20, 2015, Dave Monroe <against.the.dave at gmail.com>
>>>> wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> HAS ANYONE ACTUALLY READ INFINITE JEST?
>>>>>
>>>>> http://lithub.com/reclaiming-david-foster-wallace-from-the-lit-bros/
>>>>>
>>>>> Why Literary Chauvinists Love David Foster Wallace
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> http://nymag.com/thecut/2015/08/david-foster-wallace-beloved-author-of-bros.html
>>>>> -
>>>>> Pynchon-l / http://www.waste.org/mail/?list=pynchon-l
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>
>>
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