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A comment on The Unfinished: David Foster Wallace’s Struggle to Surpass Infinite Jest (2009). Parent comment

Re:The Unfinished: David Foster Wallace’s Struggle to Surpas... by bri3d on Tuesday May 30, 2017 @01:29PM (#14446921)
Like any other subculture / virtue signal which gains in popularity, there's a strong group for DFW and a strong backlash against from both sides. One side rejects the signal due to its popularity ("only dilettante freshman losers love DFW, REAL enthusiasts love REAL lit") and the other rejects the signal due to its accessibility ("these hipsters think they're cool just because they've read something, anyone could buy the book and do that!").

We see it in programming, too - "only newbie idiots love Ruby, Rust 4ever" plus "this damn hipster Rust brigade is ruining programming, Java is still just fine!"

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Re:The Unfinished: David Foster Wallace’s Struggle to Surpas... by Analemma_ on Tuesday May 30, 2017 @01:55PM (#14447126)
Don't forget the hate from the positivist-minded STEM crowd and right-wingers, who both have a reflexive dislike of anything with a whiff of postmodernism about it.
[ Parent | on HN ]