Growing Sentences with David Foster Wallace

Re:Growing Sentences with David Foster Wallace by jsomers on Monday March 16, 2009 @10:15PM (#519244)

Hmm, DFW's sentences are occasionally indulgent, but they don't sound like this. Here's a sample chosen (somewhat) haphazardly:

If we want to know what American normality is -- what Americans want to regard as normal -- we can trust television. For television's whole raison is reflecting what people want to see. It's a mirror. Not the Stendhalian mirror reflecting the blue sky and mud puddle. More like the overlit bathroom mirror before which the teenager monitors his biceps and determines his better profile. This kind of window on nervous American self-perception is just invaluable, fiction-wise.

His style begs to be parodied but this is a facile attempt, in my opinion.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Growing Sentences with David Foster Wallace by unalone on Monday March 16, 2009 @11:33PM (#519336)

The difference between DFW and this article is that DFW writes really, really good sentences, that just happen to be incredibly huge. A parody most likely won't be as good unless the parodist is brilliant as well (see the "Oxen of the Sun" chapter in Ulysses).

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Growing Sentences with David Foster Wallace by lacker on Tuesday March 17, 2009 @10:55AM (#519925)

Are you sure this isn't an actual DFW sentence? This sentence sounds like an excerpt from Infinite Jest.

[ Parent | on HN ]