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  • Franzen hinted that some of Wallace's journalism is fictionalized. No kidding! It took a genius to figure out that he exaggerated a few absurd interludes for the sake of humor? So I guess by that standard, Hunter S. Thompson was just a hack? Please...

    Bret Easton Ellis also had some abrasive words to say about much of Wallace's work. Though Wallace could never achieve Ellis' swag or flair, it still sounds like a case of sour grapes for both Ellis and Franzen.

  • Has there been a radical change in volume? Hello.

  • wish he was here.. I kinda wanna go on a date with him

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

  • Hysterical Realism : David Foster Wallace

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  • 13:09 - 15:43

  • anyone know where i can watch the full version of the interview that comes up around 9:00?

  • Friendly man. Boring speech.

  • @gregpphoto you don't understand

  • @Frankizzia Do you understand it?

  • @gregpphoto I think so.

  • 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

  • this nattering is such bullshit. the guy was--or is or whatever--a really great writer. getting hung up on his death, or his depression, or any other afflictions--that's just shortsighted. just appreciate his work, and if you don't like his work, don't watch the video.

  • Lol if you deceived yourself into thinking you actually enjoyed the lame shit he was reading in that video. The way the audience laughed when they didn't even understand the humour just killed me.

    Skip to the interview section if you want to get anything out of this youtube. Don't waste your time.

  • @Intelectual95

    your username pretty much sums up what a pompous ass you are.

  • @Intelectual95

    also, how the fuck do you like trolling all the stuff I enjoy? haha.

  • @Intelectual95 Your pretentiousness eclipses any possible intellectual experience you think you have and therefore causes your screenname to be a misnomer for no one except David Foster Wallace and the audience knows how they felt in that time and situation and to assume you know better by watching it on youtube years after the fact is almost hilarious in itself. If you actually knew anything about DFW and his so called 'humor' you would know that humor was not his intention and it only (tbc)

  • @Intelectual95 Only the interpretation and projection of any one view onto his words. He said that Infinite Jest was written to be a sad story and when people went to him talking about how funny it was he was surprised.

  • R.I.P.

  • @420dogowner Before making such dim, ignorant statements, how about reading something he wrote?

  • @420dogowner I wish I could take your comments seriously enough to take the time to present an equally serious rebuttal, but alas, you're opinions are so pathetic that the only thing worth saying is: "You're pathetic."

  • I miss him :(

  • I wish I could hug someone who loved DFW as much as I did, any of you people here, who are watching this video. Because in the end after trying to figure out why this wonderful man had to leave this earth, the place my emotions lead to is just pure sadness. If a man who was so brilliant and so right couldn't bare this world...what hope to the rest of us have. *hug?*

  • @brothamouzoune *hug*, friend.

  • @brothamouzoune we love,therefore we will survive

  • @brothamouzoune Maybe he couldn't bare this world BECAUSE he was so brilliant...?

  • @brothamouzoune I give you a hug. I feel the same way. There are a couple of people who left life because they were too sensitive to handle the cold heartedness of so many. And it's those who are so sensitive, too sensitive to handle humans, who animals and humans need so desperately to stay.

  • @brothamouzoune HUG. You are not alone, friend.

  • For those interested, both articles from this video can be read in full here: harpers.org/archive/2008/09/hb­c-90003557

    Their titles are Ticket to the Fair and Shipping Out: On the (nearly lethal) comforts of a luxury cruise.

  • @jeremybjeffery thank you.

  • 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!

  • how do u know that i meant something wrong with Ego? Shows ur stupidity

  • @goldsmithstudent ok. what did you meant?. when you write one word like that, one cannot infer something else.

  • EGO

  • @goldsmithstudent - you should be more carefull when adding something like this. its obvious you dont know shit or, if you do, its clear you got it wrong. PS;: I suposse you dont have any ego. yeah. that´s clever.

  • Oh my God this is so awesome!

  • 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!

  • I have his reincarnation.... pale house

  • It's maybe best not to make any conjecture at all on DFW's 'illness'. It would be more respectful to pass over the subject and respect the fact that nobody knew his mind better than he did. Best to recall him as he was and not o canonise him or see him as a victim. thank you for this wonderful video from this amazing book.

  • dfw is genuine

  • Thanks for uploading. Incredible.

  • 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.

  • are these from one of his books?

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

  • @GRIGORIA666

    Yep. Check: A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again.

  • he pulls off those glasses well

  • 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.

  • Do you think God was nervous to meet David Foster Wallace?

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

  • I think Sartre would believe it, simply another thread of brillance David weaves seemingly effortlessly in his writting. I'm hesitant to say anything concrete about such a dynamic artist. Part of his genius is his ability to translate the depth of his self conscious to the point that his reader begins to carry the weight of each word he writes along with him.

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  • @brokennarcissist

    No, but maybe a little exasperated.

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  • @brokennarcissist

    God IS DFW.

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

  • @brokennarcissist Whilst I don't believe in God, this is a beautiful and humorous comment.

  • The Pale King's smidgens are already awe-inspiring.

    ".. to care about people, and to sacrifice for them day after day in myriad little unsexxy ways day after day. That is real freedom." Great quote from dfw.

  • He wasn't the first who critisized society in this manner but he did it ingeniously.

    Requiescat in pace. We all miss you...

  • I just heard about DFW a few days ago. I know, I know.. I'm behind. Especially seeing as Vonnegut is one of my favorite authors (someone who is in the same vein/style as DFW). He is a very talented author, though.

  • The opposite happened to me. I discovered Vonnegut after having been a student (and fan) of Dave's while I was in the graduate program at Illinois State.

  • RIP--what a brilliant writer he was.

  • Is this from one of his books?

  • Yes -- they're both in "A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again," published by Back Bay Press in 1997.

  • This is really David Foster Wallace, you nitwits.

  • why would anybody think that this wasn't him? dummies

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

  • what is the word at 20:30 - the diaphanous and ...

  • Pretty sure it is "the diaphanous and epicanthically doe-eyed Petra"

    Epicanthus - a fold of skin extending from the eyelid over the inner canthus of the eye, common among Mongoloid peoples. :)

  • Please refrain from using the phrase "Mongoloid" in 2009, thank you.

  • to watch the coast of Florida recede cinematically ... a la Fran Conroy?

    Who is Fran Conroy?

  • The name is Frank Conroy, and he is the famous writer who authored Nadir's cruise pamphlet. Read the story (A Supposedly Fun Thing Ill Never Do Again) its quiet entertaining.

  • This is a very funny essay, I love DFW but sometimes it bugs me a little how he augments his talents of non-fiction descriptive and ironic writing with clearly invented, quirky little asides to make things more outlandish

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

  • 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!

  • He was not a coward. He was a sick man who tried valiantly to beat the disease that eventually took him.

    His writing is lyrical, funny, cinematic, and brilliant. Let us show this tender man the respect he deserves. Peace.

  • @thebirdful1 What's up with this stigma of people who commit suicide being "cowards"? If most people knew how it feels to become an introvert and really contemplate the nature of humans/society, or to grow up in terrible conditions, they wouldn't run their mouths about people who commit suicide being cowards. Life can be depressing, and I certainly don't value "bravery" over characteristics such as intelligence. If I was surrounded by terrible humans for my entire life, is living being brave?

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  • @TheFragile89 I agree completely. And you're right, that is ironic, because people choose to gain happiness by passing judgment over something they are afraid to explore. Cowardice, as you put it.

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  • You should read Goethe's The Sorrows of Young Werther.

    Werther's views on suicide might open your eyes to how illogical this stance is.

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

  • Q:...

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

  • Are you hideous?

  • highly and superlatively so: )

  • hehe

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

  • this is great stuff

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  • 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.

  • 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

  • What he's doing is conveying the sort of internal monologue that I tend to have about these kinds of annoying cultural phenomena, but ultimately, why write about it in a way that suggests you take it seriously? Why is this sort of stuff praised as great literature? It does not provide much depth or real insight into more interesting human problems. Why all the hooplah? It's "cool," fashionable garbage for the cleverer-than-thou.

  • 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

  • Have you read Infinite Jest? Be honest, because if you haven't then you need to stop blowing your load all over the comment pages of beloved authors. The man was a genius, and this book is JUST for fun.

  • Who said this was great literature? It's from a collection of non-fiction essays written for magazines and papers. It's wonderfully written ENTERTAINMENT.

    Read Infinite Jest if you want to know why he should be taken seriously. A book that was fussed over by every literate, "cool" "fashionable" 20-something in the 90s, and literally was not CAPABLE of suffering because of said treatment. It's a great book written by not just a great writer but a significant writer.

  • I like DFW, but come on--why give this performance, and so many others like it, as though the content is important and significant? DFW is self-important and either unaware of or unconcerned with more important worldly phenomena. Who cares about a baton twirling contest, ultimately? It's childish, mean-spirited, cutting commentary, indicative of a writer who enjoys poking fun at something without wanting to understand it more deeply from an insider's perspective.

  • God damn, Dave: we're gonna miss you. Thanks for all that you gave us, and kay you rest in peace.

  • That should read "may." This man's work helped save my life, and I'm sure I'm not the only one...

  • 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.

  • 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...

  • problem is he had a drug addiction and his logic was circular.

  • well, many great writers are or were drug addicts or depressives

    and to say his logic was circular seems debatable

  • no no no no.....it's not debatable....his logic is clearly circular, just like hunter s. thompson. Why do you think these too killed themselves? They were stuck in a hamster wheel in their brains. No release spiritualy. All drugs and no hugs.

  • "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

  • Isamright33 is right, you guys. David Foster Wallace's logic was circular for no other reason than because it was circular. There are signs of its circularity just everywhere, which serve to prove the entire matter.

    I was just looking on YouTube for bright men and women who have the courage to call out dead writers, and I think we all owe a debt of gratitude to Mr/s. 33.

    Don't ever let any one tell you that your compulsive comments on videos you hate don't matter to anyone but you. You matter.

  • 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?

  • mmm drug addiction and circular logic...

    heres insight on why

    we need to take drugs, to offset the bullshit thrown at our views when we see things in how they are, and circular is from weve conceptualized in a understanding to know whats right and will keep going back to whats right, over doing wrong as much as possible

    which cycles us back to being depressed because so seams doing wrong will always take you further than whats right,in so many ways in life

    possibly; hence its a 'slice of life'

  • What you just described is also known as being within the body of the christ in christianity.

  • the reading is hilarious, im currently reading Infinite Jest. Wallace was a great writer, his use of Mario Incandenza (my favorite character) as a sort of less-clever comic relief in comparison to his prodigiously athletic brothers Hal and Orin is very funny.

  • ". . . "

  • "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.

  • very funny

  • ,,,

  • I know you will now focus on the "I've manipulated" you part; you will do this for obvious reasons. However, you will not do this now that I've predicted it; you will do this for obvious reasons.

  • Rapid cycling's a bitch, huh? "Doh-dee-doh-doh-I'm a f-in' genius! Bow down to me! Wait, I'm bored; wait, let's debate; wait, noooooo... hey, I'm flying! Man, I'm smart. I'm a smart-diddly-artist. Bow down to me! Truckers, yer all just truckers; or, uh, imbeciles... yeah, that's right! Hey! lookit me, I'm the next DFW cuz i'm the smartiest-doot-da-doot-artyest­...

    Meds help.

  • You will now take your pants off and run down the street naked. You will do this for obvious reasons. However, you will not-NOT do this now that I've pre-predicted it; you will not-NOT do this for obvious reasons. You are now under my command. Hey, this is fun. Will you marry me?

  • May I join this pontification party?

    Swearing is not a form of expression. When we use strong language, we use it for a moment and cease its use when the particular moment is gone. What distinguishes swearing is its habitual use, its substitution for real thought. It is a coarse form of throat clearing, and it coarsens one's language and thus one's thought. Its use as a cultural identifier doesn't make up for its considerable downsides.

  • You're dumb. Swearing is essential to language and writing.

  • Essential? Well, while certainly beneficial to both above mentioned concepts, to suggest that it is essential would imply that you believe a loss of vulgarity would ultimately mean the loss of a particular language in its entirety. That is, unless you were refering to the effectiveness of communication via language, which is in fact the main function of language. However, you should perhaps designate between the instrument itself and how well it performs its function.

  • Regardless of how high your IQ may be, you will only do more harm to your reputation as an intellectual in the eyes of others by resorting to the type of tactic employed here. Mudslinging is a move often seen as juvenille, to be used in only the most precise of circumstances that warrant it, for it carries the extremely high risk of portraying an individual as not being able to stay on point, unable to form valid counter-points to defend their position in a debate...

  • Perhaps you should try sticking to the point.

  • Again, my intelligence is beyond your comprehension. Do you honestly believe there is--as far as universal truth and knowledge, not information, are concerned--anything you know that I do not? If you would like lessons on/in reality, feel free to ask me anything you want. But do not sit at your computer under the impression that you are educating me. I am a cognitive God. I have never once met a person superior to me. I am as multi-faceted and complex as hundreds or thousands of people combined.

  • So...in an effort to prove that you do in fact possess a mentality superior to that of the rest of humanity, you...soup up your mudslinging in an attempt to intimidate, as opposed to actually proving that you actually do have great cognitive ability by offering something that has actually bearing on the issue at hand... Hmmm...I detect a flaw in your logic.

  • Interesting, considering my logic is on the level of Plato and Wittgenstein. Why should I debate with you? Honestly, I don't care if you believe me or not. My IQ isn't contingent upon your belief in it. I will not argue with you about language. You are free to believe whatever you want. Moreover, you don't impress me; I will not go to rhetorical war with someone so beneath me cognitively--it's pointless, I can derive no satisfaction from it. I enjoy the attention ur giving me--I've manipulated u

  • 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.

  • Why not try your hand at it?

  • And now I am bored. Ironic though, how someone who believes vulgarity isn't essential to language is on the virtual space of a man who embraced obscenity with such passion.

  • I can certainly understand the allure of taking up such a position. It's remote, allowing you to cast predictions of what you believe would be the end result of a debate without ever having to actually deal with that margin of possibility that the odds might turn in a way you had not predicted. However, those who are drawn to this tactic are often blinded by the above mentioned allure, unable to gain a third-person perspective by which they may objectively see the crippling effects it has on...

  • ...them. Such effects may only be absolved through participation in an actual debate.

  • I agree. However I percieve you as a person analogous to a religious lunatic, or rather, a religious imbecile, and I know for certain that you will never concede that you are wrong. Moreover, the 500 character parameters are too restrictive for me to completely shut you up to the point where your only recourse will be "it's my opinion--you can't disprove opinion." I'm glad you enjoy talking to me so much, however, I only enjoy hearing myself talk, and that is the only reason I'm still typing 2u.

  • Opinion tends to arise from a construct of logic grafted upon a foundation of observations. Granted, in the end, the opinions rendered may prove to be ridiculously far-fetched and destort the initial meaning of those observations, but the real point of concern is the chain of logical reasoning that unites the two. Opinions may be changed if one's logic is proven to be faulty. I would be more than happy to admit I'm wrong, if you can first present to me the problems with my stance.

  • Meds. Meds. Lamictal will help.

  • But I heart yew, I rilly, rilly do. C'mon, let's be friends. You could tell me how smart you are while I let you ride in my big truck. I could give the commencement speech at your Jr-Hi graduation: "We have brains in our heads! We have feet in our shoes! We can steer ourselves any direction we choose!" Snap! I just quoted Dr. Seuss, cuz I'm smarter than your mom. I'm prolly smarter than you, too; see, while you wanna be the next DFWallace, DFW wanted to be the next ME! and, Medzzz...

  • LOL. What a lack of a life you must have--making an account especially for me. Jeez you're pathetic. Are you supposed to be funny? Do yourself a favor: open a dictionary and look up wit. You're clueless. P.S. DFW wasn't even close to as smart as I am. P.P.S. Your attempt at creativity makes my creative genius sad. Have fun at w/e community college you're bound for.

  • LOL? LOL??? You LOL'd me? Seriously? You didn't like talking to the ghost of DFW? Are you saying it wasn't as good for you as it was for me? But... but... I thought we had a connection. I even made a special account, just for you.

  • i aren't god, but i'm happy to remain a thorn in the Bastards side till it at least explains the reason for Yow.

  • Dude, take your meds. Really: they will help to keep you from believing that you can fly (it hurts so much when you land).

  • He sat up. An alarm clock blinking in LED red what all alarm clocks blink when they're blinking. An orange juice container only 1/4 full with urine. Rinds of oranges lying near and not so near to the unorthodox piss receptacle. Light banging on the closed blinds at irregular intervals. Must be cloudy today. I bet it's like 11 A.M. It fucking better be at least 11 A.M.

  • at least you're getting your vitamin c

  • Yes sir. I love my Vitamin C. Were you the person who gave me a thumbs up (+1) on my mini comment-story post?

  • Did you stay home on Christmas Eve to argue with a stranger? It's like your fly is open and no one is telling you. For God's sake man, go hug someone. Go tell someone you love them. Life is too short, young Wallace.

  • Love? What is that? Do you know what love is, exactly? I do. I wonder what you think it is. I wonder if you believe in altruism too. Plus, hi, I'm Jewish. Life isn't too short. Life is far far too long, and the good parts terminate far too quickly; and you don't even know they are the good parts until you're knee deep in a long stretch of shit. (I've never used "and" proceeding a semi-colon, but DFW does it.)

    P.S. And like Wallace's Ken Erdedy, if you've read Infinite Jest, I'm not a hugger.

  • We all know what love is. Everybody knows that expecting love in return for love given does not invalidate love. Your not the only person around here who thinks of the nature of these things. Don't get caught with your pants around your ankles, doofus.

  • There is something peculiar in your idol worship of DFW. Why would someone like yourself, a genius, a beacon of light and reason, an intellectual giant nonpariel...why would you settle for being the next DFW?

    Is that your fate, young man; to be derivative, to be a glorified parrot that only knows what DFW has taught you, or do you understand real genius, which has no parameters, which looks to no man for its measure?

    Please, don't cut yourself off at the knees: You are not the next anything.