Re:Being a bad friend to David Foster Wallace
by mcguire on Thursday September 13, 2018 @03:17PM
(#17981529)
I have read some of DFW's work and mildly like it. (Not enough to pursue more, though.)
DFW strikes me as someone who either (a) is very intelligent and creative and always spinning off new connections and ideas; he's too excited to spend the time to make the ideas clear and simple, or (b) is trying very, very hard to look like (a). (Jonathan Franzen, mentioned in the article, strikes me as trying far too hard.) Good will makes me want to believe (a), while stories like those mentioned in the article lead me to (b). Also, I'll note that the very intelligent and creative people I know tend to spend a lot of time trying to get things clear and simple.
This article, however, is simply blog-spam. Nothing to do with being a bad friend and everything to do dropping factoids about Wallace.
DFW strikes me as someone who either (a) is very intelligent and creative and always spinning off new connections and ideas; he's too excited to spend the time to make the ideas clear and simple, or (b) is trying very, very hard to look like (a). (Jonathan Franzen, mentioned in the article, strikes me as trying far too hard.) Good will makes me want to believe (a), while stories like those mentioned in the article lead me to (b). Also, I'll note that the very intelligent and creative people I know tend to spend a lot of time trying to get things clear and simple.
This article, however, is simply blog-spam. Nothing to do with being a bad friend and everything to do dropping factoids about Wallace.