A friend introduced me to David Foster Wallace during my last year of college. This speech gave me a renewed, less judgemental outlook on life. I began to practice, Don't attribute to malice what...
A friend introduced me to David Foster Wallace during my last year of college. This speech gave me a renewed, less judgemental outlook on life. I began to practice, Don't attribute to malice what can be attributed to anything else. I became anti-solipsism. Things aren't happening to me. We're all in line together, the cashier is working the 3rd shift at their 3rd job for the day, and the customer struggling to process the transaction has been awake for three days caring for their very sick child. I take a deep breath and relax because this will be day in and day out. I'm kinder to myself and to others thanks to these words by DFW.
After I finish graduate school, Infinite Jest is first on my non-academic reading list.
A few months after DFW committed suicide (maybe early 2009), someone on early Reddit posted a link to this speech. I was a freshman in college and it was the first time I heard of him. I was...
A few months after DFW committed suicide (maybe early 2009), someone on early Reddit posted a link to this speech. I was a freshman in college and it was the first time I heard of him. I was floored - not necessarily by the underlying message (really he’s just promoting the Golden Rule), but by his presentation and narrative style. What really gripped me was his weaving of the day-to-day into his bigger message - for example, his comment on road rage completely changed my perspective when driving. I guess a good way to characterize it is applied empathy. DFW took what I ignored in church sermons my entire life and distilled it into something immediately understandable and significant. I spent the better part of my undergrad reading as much DFW as I could after that. Putting the hype aside, the American literary community lost a giant when he died.
A video of the This Is Water speech by David Foster Wallace with added 'stuff' that I watch often. It summarises the easiest visual way of keeping a perspective (I want to have) that I can think of.
A video of the This Is Water speech by David Foster Wallace with added 'stuff' that I watch often. It summarises the easiest visual way of keeping a perspective (I want to have) that I can think of.
Love this speech in written form, but hate how he delivers. He's not a very good "performer". So I would highly recommend reading not listening to it...
Love this speech in written form, but hate how he delivers. He's not a very good "performer".
So I would highly recommend reading not listening to it...
I completely agree that this speech in written form is incredible, but I'd like to play a little devil's advocate. His delivery of this speech seems intentional to me. Life is generally mundane,...
I completely agree that this speech in written form is incredible, but I'd like to play a little devil's advocate. His delivery of this speech seems intentional to me. Life is generally mundane, and you are all sitting through this agonizing speech to get on with the rest of your life. I can be convinced otherwise, but for a man that carefully chooses his words, sentence structure, and punctuation, I can't help but believe it was deliberate.
Personally, I like his delivery. This voice and cadence is spot on with his interviews and is the voice I use in my head when reading his non-fiction work
Personally, I like his delivery. This voice and cadence is spot on with his interviews and is the voice I use in my head when reading his non-fiction work
Haha interesting take! I couldn't finish listening to it because i found it a bit cringey. Maybe it gets better idk. Though, I have listened to some of his other interviews which were fine.
Haha interesting take! I couldn't finish listening to it because i found it a bit cringey. Maybe it gets better idk.
Though, I have listened to some of his other interviews which were fine.
Agreed. I think I was lucky I saw that particular video first. I've seen some other videos of that speech, without the annotations in the one I posted, and they really seem to lack the impact and...
Agreed.
I think I was lucky I saw that particular video first. I've seen some other videos of that speech, without the annotations in the one I posted, and they really seem to lack the impact and gist that this one does. Whoever made it did a great job.
I think it's important to think about this in the context of its delivery: this is a commencement speech at a college graduation. I feel that the pacing in that context is pretty typical for how...
I think it's important to think about this in the context of its delivery: this is a commencement speech at a college graduation. I feel that the pacing in that context is pretty typical for how he delivers this.
I always go back to DFW every once in a while. Sure, it's all stereotypical "lit-bro" genre, but he just has a way of grounding me. I turn on this speech every so often and listen to it if I'm...
I always go back to DFW every once in a while. Sure, it's all stereotypical "lit-bro" genre, but he just has a way of grounding me. I turn on this speech every so often and listen to it if I'm driving home from a long day at work.
I'm of a split mind about him. I find his fiction to be incredibly draining and not worth the effort, but I love his essays and is cultural criticism. I used to play this speech on the last day of...
I'm of a split mind about him. I find his fiction to be incredibly draining and not worth the effort, but I love his essays and is cultural criticism. I used to play this speech on the last day of class when I taught freshmen, but I don't think anyone ever connected with it the way I did when a professor played it for me/my class.
Yeah I can see that. I may even agree with you on that. But IJ really did change a lot for me personally, so I'd have a hard time admitting it. I wonder if it's because he studied philosophy as a...
Yeah I can see that. I may even agree with you on that. But IJ really did change a lot for me personally, so I'd have a hard time admitting it.
I wonder if it's because he studied philosophy as a student (?) I don't know....He seems to have had more of an analytical mind than a creative one. Maybe the essays and criticism just came more natural to him than the fiction and that's why it comes off this way.
While we're on it, I'll just go ahead and post my favorite DFW quote (it's long, but was anything he said not??)
Because the technology is just gonna get better and better and better and better. And it’s gonna get easier and easier, and more and more convenient, and more and more pleasurable, to be alone with images on a screen, given to us by people who do not love us but want our money. Which is all right. In low doses, right? but if that’s the basic main staple of your diet, you’re gonna die. In a meaningful way, you’re going to die.
But you've developed some defenses, right?
No. This is the great thing about it, is that probably each generation has different things that force the generation to grow up. Maybe for our grandparents it was World War Two. You know? For us, it’s gonna be that at, at a certain point, that we’re either gonna have to put away childish things and discipline ourself about how much time do I spend being passively entertained? And how much time do I spend doing stuff that actually isn’t all that much fun minute by minute, but that builds certain muscles in me as a grown-up and a human being? And if we don’t do that, then (a) as individuals, we’re gonna die, and (b) the culture’s gonna grind to a halt.
--David Foster Wallace (interview with David Lipsky)
We honestly need DFW more than ever right now and goddamn do I wish he was still with us...
A friend introduced me to David Foster Wallace during my last year of college. This speech gave me a renewed, less judgemental outlook on life. I began to practice, Don't attribute to malice what can be attributed to anything else. I became anti-solipsism. Things aren't happening to me. We're all in line together, the cashier is working the 3rd shift at their 3rd job for the day, and the customer struggling to process the transaction has been awake for three days caring for their very sick child. I take a deep breath and relax because this will be day in and day out. I'm kinder to myself and to others thanks to these words by DFW.
After I finish graduate school, Infinite Jest is first on my non-academic reading list.
Thanks for putting this so eloquently; better than I ever could.
A few months after DFW committed suicide (maybe early 2009), someone on early Reddit posted a link to this speech. I was a freshman in college and it was the first time I heard of him. I was floored - not necessarily by the underlying message (really he’s just promoting the Golden Rule), but by his presentation and narrative style. What really gripped me was his weaving of the day-to-day into his bigger message - for example, his comment on road rage completely changed my perspective when driving. I guess a good way to characterize it is applied empathy. DFW took what I ignored in church sermons my entire life and distilled it into something immediately understandable and significant. I spent the better part of my undergrad reading as much DFW as I could after that. Putting the hype aside, the American literary community lost a giant when he died.
Is a great way to put it. Going to steal that and use it in conversation. :)
A video of the This Is Water speech by David Foster Wallace with added 'stuff' that I watch often. It summarises the easiest visual way of keeping a perspective (I want to have) that I can think of.
Love this speech in written form, but hate how he delivers. He's not a very good "performer".
So I would highly recommend reading not listening to it...
I completely agree that this speech in written form is incredible, but I'd like to play a little devil's advocate. His delivery of this speech seems intentional to me. Life is generally mundane, and you are all sitting through this agonizing speech to get on with the rest of your life. I can be convinced otherwise, but for a man that carefully chooses his words, sentence structure, and punctuation, I can't help but believe it was deliberate.
Personally, I like his delivery. This voice and cadence is spot on with his interviews and is the voice I use in my head when reading his non-fiction work
Haha interesting take! I couldn't finish listening to it because i found it a bit cringey. Maybe it gets better idk.
Though, I have listened to some of his other interviews which were fine.
Agreed.
I think I was lucky I saw that particular video first. I've seen some other videos of that speech, without the annotations in the one I posted, and they really seem to lack the impact and gist that this one does. Whoever made it did a great job.
I think it's important to think about this in the context of its delivery: this is a commencement speech at a college graduation. I feel that the pacing in that context is pretty typical for how he delivers this.
I always go back to DFW every once in a while. Sure, it's all stereotypical "lit-bro" genre, but he just has a way of grounding me. I turn on this speech every so often and listen to it if I'm driving home from a long day at work.
I'm of a split mind about him. I find his fiction to be incredibly draining and not worth the effort, but I love his essays and is cultural criticism. I used to play this speech on the last day of class when I taught freshmen, but I don't think anyone ever connected with it the way I did when a professor played it for me/my class.
Yeah I can see that. I may even agree with you on that. But IJ really did change a lot for me personally, so I'd have a hard time admitting it.
I wonder if it's because he studied philosophy as a student (?) I don't know....He seems to have had more of an analytical mind than a creative one. Maybe the essays and criticism just came more natural to him than the fiction and that's why it comes off this way.
While we're on it, I'll just go ahead and post my favorite DFW quote (it's long, but was anything he said not??)
We honestly need DFW more than ever right now and goddamn do I wish he was still with us...