David Foster Wallace Interview 2003 (01/09)

[mrfigo524]

so many hardcore trolls commenting on this, just ignore them

[Gabagabe1]

His prose is turgid and prolix.

And he killed himself in the most banal way. Bleh.

[grouchomarx4]

Wallace talks in this extended interview about how the hard work of engaging with and understanding the most challenging art is easily avoided in the internet/TV age. Case in point: this long dialogue. Over the course of 9 parts, viewership begins at 37,000 and drops steadily over the following 8 installments down to 6,700. Tough to hang on for the full 90 minutes, it seems. Meanwhile, a 2-minute clip cut from the interview -- titled "DFW on Drugs and Entertainment" -- has drawn 47,000 views.

[nononononononoooono]

wasn junkie!

soundcloud/nonononononono/unti­tled

[Rohhaut]

@nononononononoooono Nein! An Depressionen leident!

[freefallingdreamer]

Oh my goodness- the ending. I love him so much. And he's sweating just like David Cusk in The Pale King.

[tjSeven]

I wish I'd met him. I wish I'd had the opportunity to convince him that critical observation of life was a worthwhile pursuit, if not for yourself then for others. Being the catalyst of change is worth living for, even if you don’t personally benefit from it. XXX

[EdoBlaauwx]

people without humor talking about humor, and quoting wittgenstein,

that's humor

[Rohhaut]

@JerridPayne Mein Versuch, den Unterschied zwischen "musst" und "solltest" auf Englisch darzustellen. Da gibt es nämlich einen Unterschied - und als ich Englisch lernte, sagten sie mir: "ought" sei "solltest". Besser jetzt?

[modramafoyomama]

@Rohhaut wie Steinbeck zu sagen pflegte: "timshel"

[Rohhaut]

@JerridPayne Replace "should" with "ought". Okay now?

[pancakerepairman]

i wonder how honest he's being when he says he wanted Infinite Jest to be defined by its sadness, the main characters lives seemed pretty stable and more often than not he does make light of whatever obstacles the characters come up against.

[GiantKukri]

"Does this make any sense to you"

ahhh I understand that feeling very well. But it made sense to me.

[LSDoped]

DFW was an extremely honest and wonderful human being, and Infinite Jest seems to be a very honest communication of his pain. If only he'd been alive a lot longer. We need people like him.

Also, looks like DrStephenKrune is a troll who are basically losers who think inciting people, even at the expense of a Genius that has passed, is fun. Sad souls. Don't feed the Trolls.

[Rohhaut]

There IS a list of books one should have read - INFINIT JEST is on it!

[antipersonDE]

Does anybody know who the interviewer is?

[antipersonDE]

@antipersonDE To answe my own question: Miriam Böttger.

[antipersonDE]

@antipersonDE answer*

[nextjdrockefeller]

The first piece of footage from German TV I've watched which is not heavily synchronised or interpreted. And then it's David Foster Wallace.

One of the brightest thinkers of post-modern times.

[vinoberg]

Youtube comments, and any attempt to respond to them, are the real Infinite Jest. Stop arguing, this is a DWF interview, dammit.

[denruegot]

@cforce17 the authors name is Thomas Bernhard

[cforce17]

whose the author the interviewer refers to? can't make out the name.

[bartelby123]

"Irony is the song of a bird that has come to love it's cage. And even though it sings about not liking the cage, it really likes it in there."

Perfectly said. This is what our culture has come to.

[modramafoyomama]

@bartelby123 #hipsters

[version191]

lol what is with the abundance of wierdos posting insane and creepy psycho-analysis of him on all of his videos? The levels of depravity in here are just mind boggling

[paradanmellow]

@version191 but what's the microphone at 01:37 doing there, wtf? would make anyone that focused be uneasy, not to go into 'the psychoanalysis' but really this is a very poorly set interview, from intruding close up camera angle to distant voice of the interviewer, it is perfectly understandable when he asks for it to be a conversation instead of a clumsy interrogatory.

[goodvibesallround]

That story about Kafka made me laugh so hard.

[saltemann]

too good for this shitholeworld- that much seems clear enough

[MichaelStepkoff]

What must be might as well be.

[khosrow]

one of the last universal geniuses. history will mention him along with goethe, leibnitz and ibn an nafis.

[Frankizzia]

This was one fucking beautiful human being.

[Dodger718]

"im sorry"... AWWW!

[scrumjosh]

DFW talks about everyone needing to devote themselves to something, worship something, sacrifice themselves to something and give themselves away to something (some people choosing religion, other attainment of riches, some choosing sports pursuits). I believe DFW himself chose his writing as his 'God'. He was devoted and made sacrficices to it (years of work) and must have worshipped it somewhat to stay dedicated. Eventually it was his writing that he gave himself away to.

Did he die for it?

[MrMadrid691]

@scrumjosh When DFW talked about people surrendering themselves to something larger he meant it in the negative. Whether people devote themselves to an athletic pursuit or the pervasive need to be sexually alluring it is often done out of internal fear and anxiety of not being accepted into the culture. Basically, people worship because they want to forget themselves and their internal feelings. So yes, DFW expended a lot of time and energy to writing but it was not his anesthetic...

[MrMadrid691]

@scrumjosh ... What eventually led to his depression and suicide is still argued by many of his fans and closest friends, Was it the anti-depressants? Was the sadness he observed in modern American culture too much for him? etc. Many have looked for clues in his short stories like the "Depressed Person" or "Good Old Neon" or even David Lipsky's sort-of-biography Although of Course You End Up Becoming Yourself, which, at least for me, is the best source so far published on who DFW the Man was.

[TommyTomato93]

@scrumjosh He's talking about something called "transference" in psychology. He's very correct about it. People find entirely secular ways to manifest religious impulses, but he's only condemning the more harmful and corrosive manifestations (money, beauty, power, etc...)

[barrett196]

His vulnerability is palpable. Such a beautiful, tortured soul.

[StahlUrban77]

@CWSonata

Perhaps, but is voice hasn't been heard in centuries.

[ohlittlecloud]

I miss him so much.

[DrStephenKrune]

look at him squint trying to think...voice sounds like a faggy child molester...the german chick sounds sexy though, would rather look at her than this posturing dork

[yesrelation]

@DrStephenKrune Really?

[winters0123]

I won't try to verbalise my opinion and admiration for him, I'll simply say that I felt so sorry for him when he was told about the background and he looked down and said 'I'm sorry.' Was the interview in his house or at a place he had chosen?

[abeeraj]

I just cant watch this.

[prowlergrig]

haha these techs at ZDF are p incompetent

[Lostinmezzy]

@DrStephenKrune Are you okay? I'm concerned for you, and very curious how that can be your natural response to this interview, or any human being's life in general. Hope things start going better for you Dr.

[KampfKiewi245]

@DrStephenKrune You seem to be stressed or frustrated about something, could you please tell me about what?

[vigil]

@DrStephenKrune grow up you sick fuck. there will never be people interested in what you have to say, like the very person you put down. quit hating on people because they are better than you. scumbag.

[asian07boi]

RIP DAVID you are a legend

[eits1986]

Has anyone's voice and words ever exuded more intelligence than this gentle man?

Rest in peace, David.

[DrStephenKrune]

@eits1986 yes, my naked gay neighbor Tim Dang exudes more intelligence...David Foster Wallace sounds slightly retarded...also he killed himself lol

[togglescratch]

@eits1986 yes.

[antonietto1]

@eits1986 lovely comment.

[EnjoicoolPanda]

I wish more of my friends liked Mr. Wallace, or gave it a chance

[namely2000]

I'm sorry, this was insanely disrespectful. I'm not well. I wish i could erase the older messages I wrote but those accounts have been deleted.. Please ignore every comment made by namely. And If you meet me in real life, I give you permission to seek vengeance, i only ask for mercy or pity or whatever, I really am a pathetic, pathetic soul.

[SuperTrancend]

@namely2000 chill yo lol, go read some wallace :)

[morse3388]

@namely2000 Yeah you are.

[fuwhatelse]

so sad this genious man committed suicide

[namely85]

and I'm fucking jealous.

[abeeraj]

@namely85 dont be so extreme, sure the media DOES effect so many things but, can you not be moderate, not to mention this this man is no where near narcissism, cant you have some respect for the dead, when you write brilliant literature, you owe it to your readers to somewhat explain the shit you wrote.

so calm yo tits.

[namely85]

fuck the media, fuck the internet, fuck being admired by people you don't even know.Watch his whole interview, watch david foster wallace start off strong,confident and smug and watch him get fucked with until he melts into a scared little puppy who said too much, and exposed too much of himself to someone who only pretended to like him so he would do exactly that.I love david foster wallace, he's sad and pathetic. he represents this sorry country in all it's brilliance and all its pathology.

[SmashHits000]

@namely85

Grow up. I don't want to hear your uninformed pronouncements about someone whom you didn't even know.

[namely85]

next time you see a camera,break it.Next time you see a celebrity or a public figure,turn your head,cough and then snicker.next time you get the urge to broadcast yourself and all the ways that you were "like,"think of david foster wallace's body hanging lifelessly from a noose,an then think of reticence.Go the fuck underground,develop your own unique style of thinking and only show it to peopleyou know and respect.inside your own head you're free to thinkwhatever you want withoutbeing judged.

[namely85]

he's just a brilliant, sweet man who got fucked by a ruthless world. He chose to expose himself because he wanted to be more than his incredible work, he wanted to be worshipped by a society he viewed only as a mirror through which he could celebrate his narcissism and self loathing. He was only doing what it told him to do, he was only being an american. And in a quest for redemption, he tried to take on the toxic network of ideas that saturated his poor soul, and he lost.

[cambocan]

@namely85 shut up

[knightschwartz]

Wallace was a champion amatuer Tennis star who transfered his sporting drive to writing in College. Many do that. These types can be brillant and usually take those anti=depressants. The girl interviewers sounds like a dumb college chick who wasted 200 grand on a Comparative Lit degree.

[Namely82]

@Joniebonie1990 how wrong you are, I'm all about mental illness. I'm only joking though, I don't care about this guy or suicide. i'm just pathetic, fucked up and bored. I could keep going but ill stop. sorry.

[Namely82]

he's a hypocrite who couldn't live up to his own words.Suicide is the ultimate act of selfishness.He had life.He could have given it to someone who needed it, he could have worked to sustain life where it was threatened by injustice.Instead he chose to destroy himself and to destroy life to escape his own pain instead of trying to destroy forms of pain that transcended him.He's just as disgusting as the rest of us,yet he had the audacity to preach,but couldn't follow his own sermon.

[Namely82]

explain uploading 100+ photos of yourself looking popular onto a social network and friend-requesting everyone you've ever met. They want to be admired and even worshipped, I think. maybe that's an effect of advertising, or media in general, i don't know. I done tripping over it though, there are more interesting things to think about, like intellectual history. Maybe wallace was prying too deeply into stuff that he couldn't handle and should have ignored. they aren't going to read him...

[Namely82]

This isn't insightful.He's just another media junkie from the midwest who absorbed a mannered american life-paradigm from TV, and subconsciously submitted to a bombardment of advertisements, and then felt "sad and empty" from the materialist propaganda he willing subjected himself to.Real people aren't like that.Go for a bike ride, go hiking, travel, go on an adventure.grow some balls, don't sit around feeling sorry for yourself because you're a brilliant wimp who bought into bullshit.

[MrMadrid691]

@Namely82 He is a writer. His job is not to merely "enjoy life" like you claim he ought to, but to be very observant of his environment-- for better or worse. Mr. Wallace was not just someone who made up myths about the culture in a vacuum; according to statistics, many of today's youth are bombarded with 30,000 advertisements every year. This is a very pervasive part of our culture that fetishizes material goods, physical attractiveness, and specticle. Most people go about their daily lives ...

[Namely82]

@MrMadrid691 I already know what you are thinking, saying" loser" and "douchebag" makes me sound like an idiot. I'm embarrassing myself. I agree with everything he says and I love how eloquently he expresses it. But Suicide is the the most selfish thing a person can do. It causes pain for others, even if it alleviates yours. For me, it erases everything else he did. "Slay the master?" That's a bogus message. I can't get behind that.

[MrMadrid691]

@Namely82 ... , particularly today's youth,without being aware of how the media landscape affects the lens through which they see the world. Your assertion that Mr. Wallace was a "brilliant wimp" is a gross oversimplification of a man who sacrificed his well-being, or his ability to become happy, to produce art that many of his readers fully appreciate. Since you seem to be very critical of him and his ideas,I'm just curious, what are your thoughts about American culture andthe adverising world?

[Namely82]

@MrMadrid691 Everything he's said here, I've thought before, and discussed a length with friends and family, especially while in college. Some people worship this guy and others like him (bill hicks comes to mind) for saying stuff that's obvious to anyone who thinks. He's just very good at articulating it. American culture and the advertising world are boring. I'm from NY. Lots of people from the mid-west move here. They're deluded and annoying, they think they are living in a movie.

[Namely82]

@MrMadrid691 Someone told me about a study done on high school girls in the mid west. They asked them what their life's aspiration was. A significant number wanted to be famous, just famous, not for doing something, famous for doing nothing. I can't stand people like that. I don't like talking to them or being in a room where i can hear them talk. They have confidence that isn't based on merit, but based of successful conformity to a self-concept the media machine fed them. this would...

[Namely82]

@MrMadrid691 even if he kills himself. All that effort, all that sacrifice and pain was wasted because david foster wallace did not change anything. Words cant change anything and he's an idiot for trying to fix something he thought was broken because it didn't want people like him. He's a loser and people who read him are losers, and killing himself only cemented that. That's why I don't like him, his suicide. Like I said before, If it gets that bad then step away, get some exercise

[Namely82]

@MrMadrid691 ...go out into nature, something else man. Don't be a douchebag and try to immortalize yourself though some pathetic publicity stunt. Maybe if i read his writing I'll change my mind, I probably sound like an idiot. Whatever. Im not going to read a book written by a guy who can't handle life. 

[MrMadrid691]

@Namely82 I grew up in a Massachusetts suburb that fetishized muscle cars, brand clothing, top 40 music, and unhealthy fast food, so based on my observations, I agree with most of the points you made. I have also been critical of Facebook, which, in my view, is nothing more than a convenient avenue for marketers to understand who you are according to your consumer profile; and it does ampify the instant-celebrity narcissim that permeates our culture. However, by stating that you would not ...

[MrMadrid691]

@Namely82... read a work from someone who could no longer handle life alienates a lot of artists, writers, and musicians. Vincent Van Gough was depressed; Jack Kerouac and Jack London were drunks; Virginia Wolff and Sylvia Plath were wierd; Kurt Cobain was weak for not being able to handle celebrity life. It seems like a common thread that most artists who penetrate an understanding or a message about the world, always come out of it miserable or finding nothing but contradictions. But that...

[MrMadrid691]

@Namely82 ... does not mean that their endeavors were meaningless or fruitless. It only proves that it is very difficult to be a self-aware individual that is engulfed the need to find answers. If you read or listen to anyone that I listed, you will find the language to be able to describe an experience or the environment in which you live. DFW's "Infinite Jest" is a very difficult read (it took me 2 months to read), but just reading a philosophy text it is ultimately rewarding in that. ..

[MrMadrid691]

@Namely82 ... it challenges you to confront that part of yourself that is selfish and feels the need to gratify your own desires without any consideration for anyone else.

[Saltedkoshersalami]

also lol @ "i move in and out" response : "oh yeah."

poor depressed sob, apologizing for things he shouldnt all the time.

no wonder he offed himself. man was a kindred spirit.

[Saltedkoshersalami]

also what happened in the end. "i was halfway lucid?"

also lol @ "i move in and out" response : "oh yeah."

[Saltedkoshersalami]

can somene explain to me why everyone insults this guy.

those who do seem like anti intellectuals to me.

[MrMadrid691]

@Saltedkoshersalami Youtube is a breeding ground for pseudo-intellectuals who have failed at life and gives them the oppurtunity to express their self-loathing. It enables them to project that hatred onto other people for accomplishing what they have obviouly failed to attain; in this case, taking their petty feelings out on a man who had such insight into the material culture we live in. It's almost kind of pathetic, but I guess it makes them feel "bigger" when they think they have the answers.

[Namely82]

It's really ironic because its sad and funny at the same time. Apparently he got bent out of shape over wittgenstein's solipsism. It made him lonley according to slate. That is quite a pickle. Read his senior thesis on fatalism, columbia U published it. It's really quite technical philosophy that digs deep into some serious problems. And its very ambitious.

[Namely82]

More evidence that this guy is full of shit. "I set out to write a sad book, and when people told me they liked it and that it was funny it was very surprising." O, really? then why did you name it "Infinite Jest?" last time i checked, jest means humor. wanker.

[Namely82]

Davis sedaris and augustine burroughs are also shit for the same reason. And henry miller.

[Namely82]

Anne sexton is rubbish, so is sylvia plath. Disclosing intimate details about your life to the american public strips you of your dignity and requires no imagination. It's an easy and a lazy way to entertain someone.

[Namely82]

This guy doesn't have the qualifications to say anything. You have to earn your right to an opinion. You have to base it on substance, not little observations about everyday life. You have to bury yourself in knowledge and never come up for air, and even then won't get the final word, on anything. This guy is a lightweight who talked out of his ass, talked himself into a corner and then couldn't ante-up. He is making me depressed, I'm going to cry. why god, why? why are we so pathetic?

[Defect8]

@Namely82 I'm guessing that most other viewers are biting their tongues, hoping that you'll be the next to commit suicide.

[sdfgdsgfsdfg]

@Namely82 : At least he's not that pathetic that he sits in front of his PC writing pseudo-intellectual but actually totally idiotic stuff about other people. I give you some advice, so listen: Hang yourself.

[Namely82]

@sdfgdsgfsdfg you heard the word pseudo-intellectual and thought it sounded good. you're wrong. a pseudo-intellectual borrows ideas from a real intellectual, over-simplifies them and then runs his mouth off in a french cafe. Or it's someone who theorizes without an advanced degree to prove they did enough research to have that right. Wallace is a pseudo-intellectual. He had the chance to become something real and this is what he chose. Idiotic? maybe. kill myself, like some desperate german? NO

[Namely82]

he was sad because he's a loser

[Namely82]

and then smugly telling the germans what the U.S. is like is this obnoxious interview. They probably know more about the U.S. then this guy does. While he's pretending his deluded and solipsistic worldview is intelligent and informed (corporations own everything, man..yo lemme hit that blunt and then say something banal) the rest of the literary world is reading about history, not pretending like they know what they are talking about

[Saltedkoshersalami]

@Namely82

you must have voted bush twice and think the GOP is americas saving grace lmao. yeah money owns everything and corporations = lots of money.

[Namely82]

He wrote a 1000 page book, most of which is boring, and called it infinite jest. that's stupid. It's length is the only reason it got publicity. "yeah dude it's really long, his guy must be smart." ten pages about collapsing a bed frame? that's not talent, that's narcissistically copying a dim witted technical manual into an overly ambitious shitstorm of pretentious diction, with a flagrant disregard for the person who might read it. "yeah, they are going to love this" NO

[skolded1]

welcome you are

[Namely82]

thanks yoda

[skolded1]

I know students, pipe-fitters, doctors, etc who kill themselves. The human psyche, for some, very fragile. It would seem he had, perhaps, more stress than most who commit suicide. But depressed he was. The way out for him? Death. I suspect his motives were not at all megalomaniacal.

[Namely82]

"maybe if i kill myself people will read it" yeah sure dude, i'll get right on that. OH MY GOD. PLEASE publish is unfinished notebooks!!!!! I wanna know what it's like being inside the mind of a genius.

[Namely82]

I hate how he makes that face and shows his teeth after saying something that isn't profound. He's smart, smarter that I am, smarter than most people. Read him as evidence that the humanities are dying in the US. I read the New Yorker article on him, and I saw this douche interview. I'm not going to read a book written by a guy who can't handle life. I'll read Cormac, or Pynchon, or Faulkner, somebody with balls. a writer who writes, not wines about how hard life is to a camera.

[franzferdinand345]

@Namely82 wow, now that I realize all writers who kill themselves are neither worth while or worth fundamental respect as people, i guess i'll just have to forget about how painfully, sadly brilliant ernest hemingway is

[franzferdinand345]

@Namely82 and sylvia plath

[franzferdinand345]

@Namely82 and anne sexton

[franzferdinand345]

@Namely82 and chris doty. thank you for making a value judgment about his literary merits not because of his talents, which are innumerable, but just on the fact that he was hopelessly sad. it doesn't change anything. but he did :)

[doitinasubmarine]

@Namely82 Yeah, pretty shit effort.

[Namely82]

Ok. He wanted to be brilliant. He sent his senior thesis to a publisher with a little argument for why they should publish it. Only a douchebag would do that. Why not work harder on the manuscript? what's so important about being published? Fame? Pathetic move #1

[Namely82]

This guy killed himself. He's pathetic.

[OaklandWhiteElephant]

@Namely82 Try harder.

[Namely82]

@OaklandWhiteElephant he did a lengthily interview and pontificated about stuff that's obvious, and not unique to the united states. And he talks about it like he's an enlightened authority on the U.S., and generalizes one aspect of society as if it's ubiquitous. American society is diverse, his depressed world view isn't insightful. Im upper middle class, but not sad and empty. Wittgenstein also believed that people who have a negative world view also have a bad conscience.pathetic move #2

[Namely82]

@OaklandWhiteElephant He killed himself. It doesn't get more pathetic than that. He's supposedly a writer, but his passion wasn'tenough to sustain himthrough depression? He wasn't writing, he was trying to write, a brilliant novel and he couldn't do it, he wanted to be a disturbed genius like some mythological TV character, and when he realized that he's was a poser, he thought suicide would elevate him and draw more attention to his pretentious, boring book that nobody finished. PA THET IC

[OaklandWhiteElephant]

@Namely82 I'll give you credit because I said "Try harder." and you actually did. Still, your troll attempt is pretty transparent. You'll probably get more than a few bites here, but not from me. Good luck!

[sonicpoweroff]

@brek5 I never made the assertion that he was known for his speaking. I was merely pointing out his unswerving attention to proper usage.

[sonicpoweroff]

@mttc72 While I agree with you, it is also salient to note that his mother was a prominent prescriptive grammarian who used to feign choking during dinner if her children made usage mistakes. So I suspect the instinct is deeply rooted. Though you've probably already read it, I recommend DFW's "Tense Present" piece -- a piece that was originally printed in Harper's but was later reprinted in ASFTINDA.

[sonicpoweroff]

subservant...(horrified) SUBSERVIENT. Oh Mr. Wallace. Always an astute grammarian.

[mttc72]

@sonicpoweroff I think that's just the result of his working too hard to speak with precision and to enunciate well in this interview. He was overly self-conscious. He was also known to say "dudn't" rather than "didn't", e.g.

[brek5]

@sonicpoweroff Remember, he is a writer, not a speaker. This is not Christopher Hitchens (who is both). Read his works. He is the best writer of his generation.

[8644371]

If you pause randomly, David's face is hilarious.

[heAdfuk]

great guy, great interview!

besten dank für den upload!

[keylawk]

Humor is redemptive. Irony is merely the song of the bird that has come to love its cage. What is the bust out expression? Bust. Out. Too bad he passed. {Raises cup} {Begins to sense a humor coming on}.

[smurfieboo]

a similar thank you

[NarrowMinded00]

thanks for uploading! i adore his eloquence and intelligence..