Another Random Bit: The Perspective of David Foster Wallace 

DFW has one of the best reading voices ever.

His sentences are unbelievably exact. I love and admire his ability to express precisely what he's thinking. The way he describes the interaction between the busboy(the bit on his luggage), describing it as a paradox between the "passenger is always right, and the passenger never carries their own luggage". He is phenomenally well at analyzing the subjective world and describing the feelings of himself as well as predicting and interesting judging the feelings of others

This is like watching an encyclopedia doing stand up comedy lmao

I miss David Foster Wallace. This world, today, needs your brilliant mind. You were an angel on earth. You left us way too soon.

I sure wish that a person knowing something about how much he is loved and by so many could have had some kind of impact on how much value a person puts on their existence in this world, thereby being able to somewhat valiantly overcome the heinousness of the disease that prevented him from seeing the love that was i.e. there for him in this world! I love you man, and everything you wrote and I miss you every single day! and i will always wish to have been able to have just 1 convo with you!

i never met this man and just recently discovered him, yet i am deeply saddened by his passing, i feel guilty for not having discovered him earlier because there are so many things i want to ask him.

Thanks you for posting this, it's really excellent. I miss that man I dunno at all. I wish he'd gotten some fame in France, I might have discovered him truly before.

The audio getting better a quarter of the way in was oddly satisfying.

I regret having criticized his fiction on this comment list a few months back. DFW was getting big when I was in college and he looms as a large influence on my writing, reading, and learning. He was gifted beyond measure and I am sorry to know he suffered. I hope the best for his family and those who knew him personally, and I hope he found peace. Now-- stop reading these posts and pick up one of his books-- it is the best way to learn about the loss (rather than listen to bloggers blabber)

RIP Dave. I can't pretend to truly understand what was inside Wallace's head and heart at the end, and I don't think dwelling on that is how I want to honour a truly original and gifted man. Wallace's legacy is, to me at least, the honesty and clarity he brought to our attempts to find meaningful ways to relate to the world outside our skulls. I know that my conscious experience of the world is radically different due to my contact with Wallace's work.

I totally agree-- his fiction is becomeing more and more abstract and he often seems more interested in playing with structure and style than with telling a good story. His essays, on the other hand, show off his unique perspective and style better because (perhaps paradoxically) they are more conventional. I can "get" what is going on in the essays, so I have space to appreciate his perspective. I am often struggle to figure out his fiction, which means I lose the subtlety.

A great story teller. "humor and humanity"

p.s. thank's david, and UC for have'n him, and the channel here to share with us came back a year later, because i relized my favorites had you missing, and people still are seeing and talking around the virtual water cooler of your work in all this time

The cruise ship story is basically a modern day version of Kafka's The Castle lol or at least parallels can be made to it. That strange admixture of fascination and bewilderment at the cruise ship's workings reflects K's experience in the village. You desperately want to understand it but your forever grasping for it, the nature of it always already being elided by it's own convoluted workings. The humour isn't just funny, it's monstrously funny just like Kafka's style.

I laughed out loud when I first read this in Harper's. I love the title "A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again." I have felt this way about a few things for what seem like similar reasons. I wish he had written about the horrors of Disneyland.

I miss him

"none of this is made up"

cannot get enough of his reading. very interesting.

Hellish opening credits 😄

I only found out about DFW after buying a copy of Infinite Jest the other day (after hearing it's a notoriously difficult book to read and me somehow taking that as a personal challenge) and after reading 30 or so pages I decided to do a bit of investigating and discovered that this guy completely destroys my sense of humor and is now one of my favourite people.

*hug* Given the themes of loneliness DFW often visited and touched upon, it's enough just to know that other people have read what you have, are reading it now.

Every scenario, no matter how miniscule, he has 50 different ways to analyze how its making him feel.

Bringing it back!

Oh my God this is so awesome!

RIP--what a brilliant writer he was.

omg I can't believe his nonfiction is so good!

" I always found baton twirling a bit occult ..." ...that's an insight i realize i felt , without thinking of it , when i was young and into baton twirling ...

David Foster Wallace, we miss your talent. R.I.P. from Italy

Thank you David for your brilliance.

Good lord this man could write.

Thanks God for the person who filmed it

I just finished reading Infinite Jest, and it taught me that we as human beings are all damaged to some degree, and the sooner we learn this, the more easily we will move among others. I wish this realization would have helped DFW. R.I.P.

both are essays from 'a supposedly fun thing i'll never do again.' the first is about the illinois state fair, the second about a cruise he took, title eponymous.

Dear Leweeja, Thank you for mentioning Elliott Smith. I hadn;t heard of him before. I listened to his songs and liked them very much.

I will miss DFW with all my prescriptive heart.

Wow. I wish I can write this honestly some day.

what a great writer. it's a sad thing that he's no longer around.

Erumpent. He loved that word.

Truly genuine and genius individuals, oftentimes, have an impossible time trying to dumb down and be disingenuous to societal standards, and they become overly-stressed & depressed. Rather than wishing to change who they are as it is their entire soul, existence and being, they sacrifice themselves. DFW was a true genius and original! RIP DFW!

It's interesting how people find this book so funny. It's absurd but it's kind of past the point of laughing out loud. It's meant to be sad and it is. Watching this reminds me of a David Sedaris read-through where everyone comes ready to laugh at his critiques of the world. But David Sedaris has a completely different angle if he has one at all.

I just realized that the intro to this video is the drum section from Peter Gabriel's song "Rhythm of the Heat" lol

Hysterical Realism : David Foster Wallace

Great video. I wonder if DFW watched it before he died later that year.

Instead of "Maybe you're right", can't you tell me I'm right? Please, please, please, you're affirmation and approval means everything to me. And by asking "That's relevant how"?, you've answered your own question, and made my point for me.

Q:... A:...or maybe it's just really rich and wildly creative exposition!

I know what you mean, it frustrates me sometimes too. But at the same time, he wouldn't be the same without it.

it would have been interesting to see Wallace as a philosopher. It's not fair that some people can effortlessly absorb and translate knowledge ad infinitum into fiction. It really requires certain personalities and brains that aren't available to everyone. He was truly a great writer and neurotically detailed storyteller...

I am not saying we should not feel empathy for the victims of terrorist attacks or natural disaster; as I said earlier, compassion is not finite-- you can feel it for many, deeply, all at once. Why prioritize suffering? Anyone who has suffered from depression or had a loved one who did would tell you the disease can strike with all the crushing violence of a tidal surge or hijacked plane. Because their horror is smaller and self-inflicted does not make it trivial or even their fault.

DFW can now be found reading in the forgotten libraries in the forests of Middle-earth.

What a waste. The world is often a difficult place for brilliant artists and David was a brilliant artist. He was also a deeply honest human being. He will be missed for both of those reasons and many more.

Truthfully dude, I'd appreciate it if you gave it a shot.

*Steps into time machine to join group hug 2 years in the past*

Which of his books is he reading from? He's awesome.

That's a lovely comment. Thank you.

This was posted 4 months before he passed away.

"It would seem to me that someone in possession of such vast and complex mental abilities would derive more pleasure from immediately conquering an opponent in an actual debate setting. "... quite the opposite, Willowville.

I was being sarcastic, and I apologize. My original post was only about the comments here re: DFW's suicide; he killed himself because he was clinically depressed. To suggest otherwise is to diminish both DFW and the seriousness of mental illness and major depression. That said, I love DFW for the same reasons you you -- you put it perfectly.

are these from one of his books?

I would love it if DFW were here to comment on Walmart being the ad that runs before his talk...

Being brilliant and being right, will not save you from chronic depression.

Hells yeah, adult content and themes!

I kind of wonder if Petra the Slovenian cabin maid has heard this. It is feasible that someone who once worked for that cruiseline company in 1995 heard this and alerted her to it. It would have to have been translated of course. I'd be flattered if he'd written this about me!

he pulls off those glasses well

I miss him :(

26:53 moves his body like an athlete

Looks like he’s spinning house in the thumbnail

He obtained more and touched more people during his short life than you ever, ever will.

Entertainingly entertaining entertainment.

He says: "09:13 hours". No AM/PM - I like that! Thanks for the clip BangkokJohnny Royaume de Thailande

"To say a goodbye, be quick, never bore; Just put on your hat, and walk through the door. Don't pause at the sill, make straight for the gate. The last robin sings; you dare not be late." Now on, depressive innovative creative writers freely will follow the masters steps, take a rope and hung themselves, after all nobody is perfect. he may rest in peace but i'm not sure if he died in peace ... what a example off success! I want to be a illiterate but live longer.

R.I.P.

depends...are you defining it differently than in the OED?

Yup. They're both from "A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again".

I've read Pynchon, DeLillo, Joyce - last try to 'do' Finnegan's & Ulysses, same results, maybe 20 sequential pages and skim here & there, but besides my ego regarding mastering no BS complex, genius writers and some (or all, eventually),. DFW is still a genius to me, I loved this, reminded me of King's comic short stories w/o the horror, sort of... he woulda been great to hang out with.... I'll just keep finding his work and.. IDK The Hemingway's. & Fitzgerald's are so overrated & some were of the Bukowski. & Hunter Thompson's too

21:34 what's that word "acrite"?

No doubt.. Do you think David believes Hell is other people?

Ye who are blind wear blinders. Yet, those who choose to see, see the blinders.

Is this from one of his books?

"spiritually"? first off, what a loaded and nebulous word. second, depression is often a neurological mis-networking, not just a lack of positive reinforcement, like "hugs"...which by the way, was a cheeky thing to say, nimrod, the poor man battled depression his whole life, which seems to indicate it was beyond his control and nothing "spirituality" could eradicate

@Frankizzia Do you understand it?

now that i have worked a customer service job i can attest that great service is just a job for someone and is in no way an indication of their fondness for you.

I know his thinking is unhealthy, but reading him and realizing that fact has actually helped me emotionally. And besides, life is circular- flowers, seasons, orbits, the expansion and collapse of the universe- How can you be so dismissive? In some ways, I agree with you, but what does it say about you if you need to piss on graves for validation?

Post-modern is an absurdity

dfw is exquisite

'we serious fans of literary fiction detest sentimentality' Wallace himself would agree with you, but would have argued that this is, in fact, what is wrong with modern fiction. Wallace's entire literary raison d'etre was to overturn the rule of hip irony and worldweary cynicism in modern fiction.

Predicting and intriguingly*

What about the author? Anyone have an opinion on his WORK? His WRITING? That's not dead. But I think I understand: it takes thoughtfulness and effort to appreciate and discuss specific aspects of an author's (especially this author's) talent. Lazy feelers really can't help themselves from lamenting ad infinitum because they have nothing substantive to say... or they do, but it would take too much thoughtfulness and effort.

@ddsspeccies there is a discussion on reddit about this, which is why I wound up here,by way of a DFW quote

hehehe, so fucking agree with some of your points. felt like that could so easily have been myself up there. honestly main difference between you and me when compared to him; is HE DID WRITE IT, where i been to busy going on doing other things else where so i guess maybe it boils down to mainly, its just a relief, sort'a of a time out from things, and a trip down another road in life, in the events I would of witnessed and things i would've done, if i was in his shoe's e.g. Douglas Adams

Why not allow at least the sympathy for him that we can have for a total stranger? Why is it to know him through his art (which is a valid way to know someone- not like knowing them on a personally, but the beauty of lit/music/art is the dialogue between the author's thoughts and the reader's mind; it is why books are different than TV: reading requires participation which makes it more intimate) makes our sorrow synthetic but to know someone only through news reports makes compassion genuine?

"warp-warping"

Yes.

Infinite Jest, Infinite Jest! What about The Broom of the System?

yes, although not anywhere near as nervous as David. :)

Apparently Wallace's videos attract other cleverer-than-thou people, too! You can't find a "sign" of circular logic; you've either found a logical argument which is circular, or you haven't. He explicitly said at the beginning that he was commissioned to write about these events; he didn't choose to as if he were choosing a subject for great literature. Apparently, you can look to Infinite Jest for that.

anybody questions the suicide?he was clearly criticizing the system and we all know what happened to people like that,this guy is smart enough to know suicide is not a solution,and he doesn't seem to have any problems especially that he was trying to solve other peoples problems

highly and superlatively so: )

Lazy Feelers! I'm starting a band called Lazy Feelers before I do anything else today.

Elliott Smith too. How do you overcome such a state of depression? Amazing talents that gifted the world.

I'm leaving this lane with the opus they threw in the can when they left. I refuse to believe that it's hopeless so'll stay out of this alley of death. So long geniuses; I know it is tough to not linger out here with this garbage head stuff So long sweet artists; you'd had enough. I'm not blaming--too alone is too rough. I'll take your lesson into my heart like a bell to chime with the now I won't think of you that moment you fell but when you rose up with your muse; took your bow.