Charlie Rose interviews David Foster Wallace, 1/4

[chicostick12]

long live DFW

[kelevra112263]

@asian07boi

[termsofusepolice]

DFW was a huge Axl Rose fan. HUGE. Many people do not know this.

[gofishdino]

Christ it must have been exhausting to know this man.

[antonietto1]

D F W we won't never forget you. So sensitive so brilliant,,so sweet person .You were one of thhe best writer and i think "Infinite Jest" is a masterpice toghether with "A supposedly funny thing i'll never do again". Rest in peace David

[kikomiko1]

why is he wearing a diaper on his head? 

[Iamyourmoth]

@kikomiko1 To stop his brain from over flowing with awesome shit.

[hookersandblow]

dfw r.i.p amazing human

[terrapinjs]

Just finished Infinite Jest. Could have been twice as long and I still would have loved it. DFW was a genius.

[tairanotomomori]

A gentle face, a gentle voice, coupled with a formidable intellect. Probably a parlous combination.

[Normeiskey]

I love him so much. Even when criticizing something he always looks for that artist's medium of atonement. He's never brash, and very, very humble.

[KennyReddwooddforest]

Oh, I can relate to him very much. How sad that he died. What a gorgeous looking and highly genius man.

[mjn76]

Perhaps he is just nervous being interviewed, but one senses an enormous amount of tension underneath Wallace. R.I.P.

[ohfoolishworkerbee]

My absolute favorite moment - 8:21. "Nnnhhhg!"

[goodvibesallround]

I have never seen dune all the way through, lol. It's way too long.

[sockpuppet81]

One person likes Lil Wayne.

[AGuyInAHat]

Thisman offered so much to human society, I wish he was still alive.

[ratsmokedevil]

@vsminimoose It's more of an annular chin dive.

[Coloroutofspace]

@ratsmokedevil Okay, that was absolutely brilliant.

[Savorist]

David Foster Wallace is Kurt Cobain. Jonathan Franzen is Dave Grohl. Your high school English teacher is Krist Novoselic.

[Savorist]

So interesting how when he is answering questions, his eyes are pacing as if he is, indeed, reading his answer.

[attackofthezach]

When did Tim Lincecum start writing?

[iamdavidchavez]

Dave Eggers said in a forward to Infinite Jest that DFW wore a bandana at public readings because he sweated so much. He wore it to prevent his sweat from dripping on the pages. I wonder if he wore it here for the same reason.

[ben030103]

"you're seriously asking me for my views on 'the english patient?'"

[laservishnu]

I love that he just throws "cunctation" in there so casually.

[krane121]

@metemQ I think he's said he became aware of his gift relatively late and only discovered he even liked to read in college. In high school he was more of an athlete. But I think the constant self analysis probably has more to do with living in America, where you can't just *be* intelligent in these younger generations without seeming pretentious (a favorite word of Americans) or nerdy. This is especially true in Illinois where I live.

[mopman1337]

@vsminimoose although i think Rose has a point, you can tell he doesn't like to be made light of. I have the same problem

[chewbaccapoopy]

is david foster wallace related to brett michaels?

[fc7alibi]

David Foster Wallace can wear a bandana and a necktie at the same time.

[togglescratch]

a very intelligent guy, very preoccupied by his own intelligence. he says "you don't need an hour long narrative of this," implying that he could provide one. you can tell his whole life is hell. he can't leave his own mind even for a second.

[krane121]

@togglescratch and his books are a constant analysis of themselves. charlie rose was quite justified in asking him why he couldn't "just be". art, too, at some point, has to "just be".

[krane121]

@togglescratch i will say though that i've seen him interviewed elsewhere and, while he is just as much in his own head, he is also more humorously self-effacing. i think it's a common symptom of discovering one's intelligence and gift relatively late.

[MSXXY69]

Keep watching his interviews over and over again. He seems just like his writing voice; extremely self-conscious, honest, intelligent, insightful and full of love and concern for humanity. The postmodern sublime. Such noble- spirited people are the most precious rarity. These negative comments are from people who are quite the opposite. Thank you and rest in peace.

[sunzoomspark]

Axl Rose and Charlie Rose in the same vid? Rad!

[maxxxx1972]

what he said at 3:50? why the host take offence?

[omegapointil]

...clever will deliver us from mediocrity. For that we have Lady Gaga and Sharks

immersed to formaldadyde to turn to ....if that proves more satisfying I can't

answer for anyone else. Attempts at new levels in art today seem out of league

with movements of previous eras. Dadaism, Surrealism, Impressionism, Expressionism and all the rest seem to have exhausted any hopes for the next worthy level at reaching for posterity worthy movements -- at least with what's offered seems more lobbiedfor

[NoNewsTV]

@vsminimoose

There's much to read from his face, gestures, and in what he doesn't say. You're probably right re: circular chin dive. There are numerous instances in this interview where he looks like he's a) going to say something wise-ass, and/or b) walk off set. 3:11 is a pretty good indicator of what's happening in his head as Rose asks the question.

[omegapointil]

He's seems to be holding back alot of hostility, as if after any exchange the possibility for him exploding is always in the fold. The reverance he has

for Lynch it seems comes from a contempt for average in how he describes Lynchinan as union between the grotesque and banal, as if the grotesque

ought to win out because the banal is boring and has no redeeming quality.

Alot of perspective on the avante garde appears to come out of that same intolerance for banality and anything that appears

[KarenMalone]

Dear God this is shockingly embarrassing ... the man is actually wincing at his own words.

[1214gaia]

@KarenMalone -- DFW was, in a way, not a "good" visual interview because he (a) was painfully shy and self-conscious, (b) had such a quick intelligence that he couldn't keep up with the rapidity of his thoughts, and (c) valued greatly the importance of being precise in the use of language...thus the repeated self-conscious wincing at thoughts that, once articulated, he finds imprecise, and hence the rephrasing, qualifying, sweating and inability to make eye contact. God bless him. RIP Dave.

[richardizzle1]

russel crowe anyone?

[LaughingHyena007]

Jeez, Charlie Rose is an asshole.

[innocencefaded2112]

@LaughingHyena007 Nah I think he's just a very forward interviewer. He doesn't beat around the bush. And plus, anyone who would have David Foster Wallace on his show couldn't possibly be an asshole!

[Herzog1012]

@jsuglia Whereas you, Joseph Suglia, are the Greatest Author in the World, is that correct?

[Beccaleigh457]

@jsuglia On what judgement is this based? Have you read 'Infinite Jest' or just attempted it and then got bored and put it down? What about 'Brief Interviews with Hideous Men' or any of his short stories such as 'Forever Overhead'? I'm a student of english and creative writing and I can assure you that his writing is profound, strange at times, shocking and sad, but dreadful? No way.

[25tab]

@Beccaleigh457 don't feed the trolls, dummy.

[vigil]

@jsuglia go read Twilight and Harry Potter, those are more around your intellectual level.

[grahamlaur]

It's a bit ironic to see that Wallace, possibly the greatest writer of his generation, was such a humble, soft-spoken man, while so many of Charlie Rose's other guests from the Hollywood circuit who specialize in churning out formulaic mainstream trash are maddeningly egotistical and self-absorbed.

[Attakijing]

god damn this is really hard to watch. wallaces tics are like mine, except a hundred times worse and they look involuntary.

[LatteBoy123]

I'm reading Infinite Jest now. It seems as if there isn't much separation from the way the book reads and the way its author thought.

[vibbly]

you're seriously asking me for my view on the english patient?

[fireflies333]

I love how there is some deep philosophical comments. But the two up top are straight up STANs.

[rushrushrushfan]

Correct. Norman Rockwell was not banal. Dave did not articulate this part very well. I understand what Wallace was talking about when he used the word Lynchian. However, I think a better definition of Lynchian would be the juxtaposition of the all american dream with the bizarre and unspeakably wicked.

for lively and thought provoking topics check out whadawethink

[rushrushrushfan]

I have a few thoughts about the video and some of the posts. 1st of all. I'll repeat Dave was not weird (the word has a negative stigma). Did he discuss & write about things which most people are clueless ? yes, but that doesn't make him weird - he was simply a genius.

2ndly, Dave suffered from terrible clinical depression. He also was overly self-conscious. Furthermore he was a perfectionist and he really was his own worst enemy. best blog go to whadawethink

[rushrushrushfan]

Dave was not weird @ all. As a matter of fact he saw things clearer than most people you'll encounter.

Oh, I guess he's weird because he has a headband - that's pretty lame

[S2Cents]

@rushrushrushfan

That would be lame to think somebody is weird because of a bandanna. But your post -directed at who?- got me wondering if he IS weird. He is 'weird' as hell. Because after having just a little about Wallace it is clear he was an almost uniquely talented genius. I wish he would have worked more, lived more...

[Beccaleigh457]

@rushrushrushfan DFW wore a bandana because he got so nervous about making public appearences that he'd perspire a lot, so the bandana would hide it.

[CockforAllah]

@rushrushrushfan >"As a matter of fact he saw things clearer than most people you'll encounter." Except he obviously had no ability to walk through life without punching out. Ergo, your point is a moot one.

[litmus90]

@CockforAllah Don't be silly. Seeing intellectual and social matters clearly in a normal frame of mind is vastly different from being able to see clearly while depressed. What David is talking about here requires smarts and cerebral detachment. Looking at your own life and judging yourself is deeply personal, and this judgment is moreover clouded by a chemical change in the way the brain works.

[bucketheadkfc]

@rushrushrushfan by pressing the shift and the "@" key you are doing no less action than you would be if you typed "at"...in fact you have to go through the mental process to type a symbol rather than a simple two letter word, why did you do this?

[youremydisco88]

@rushrushrushfan he wears the headband because he sweats a lot in a setting such as this

[goodvibesallround]

@rushrushrushfan He's just a nerd.....like me, lol

[shoegooguru]

@goodvibesallround a nerd who is trying to look like Axl rose.

[tjsbigidea]

@rushrushrushfan I don't think someone who commits suicide sees things "clearer than most". People like DFW probably just think too much & have so many thoughts swimming in their head that the brain overloads.

The bandana could've been acceptable if he wasn't wearing a tie. B/

[Axl207]

@tjsbigidea have you read of any of his work or are you just trolling from your vantage point of pure ignorance read his essays it will improve you somewhat

[rosewallaceg]

@tjsbigidea your totally wrong about why this beautiful man killed himself. He suffered from depression his entire life and tried to stop taking his meds because they began to obstruct his ability to work and write. He was still unable to work off the meds, so he began to take them again to no results. I image most people, myself included, would never be able to understand what he was going through, because he did genuinely see things clearer than you or I.

[KennyReddwooddforest]

Very well said. Do you know David Foster Wallace in person? I would love to hear more about him and what he went through. I have suffered from depression my entire life and know what he must have felt. I tried to quit the pharma drugs twice and failed one time as well like David did, but I tried quitting again and then I knew that I had to pull through this time and that it would take a few months until the withdrawal effects had subsided. I did it and I am drug free since then.

[tjsbigidea]

"You're seriously asking me for my view on 'English Patient'?"

LOL!

[honeybozo]

Dave is so openly critical of himself..... It's almost unbearable to look at 06:08 and impossible not wince with him. The mind is indeed a very bad master.

[iDraw3G]

Everyone who's ever killed him/herself was weird. This guy was a prime example

[loevehjerte]

rest in peace

[Hallation]

I want to brush his hair. It looks soft.

[SuperTruDat]

I love you DFW.

[asian07boi]

i did not like the guy who interview Wallace...fuck that guy...Wallace is a very inspiring author and writer...he talks about real shit and real shit that people should think about...

[CastleRockFan]

@asian07boi Tell 'em, boss.

[Miketar2424]

@asian07boi Yea man!! It isn't like Charlie Rose isn't an influential and thoughtful journalist or anything!

[KrfNYC2]

His apperance compels me to pick up one of his works.

[nirvanawg]

It was classy of him not to totally bash "The English Patient" even though he obviously didn't like it.

[thefilmjock]

As for directors who pioneered making smaller personal films that got widely distributed I'd say Casavetes did it before Lynch. Though I'd say Lynch's contribution is slightly more impressive just because he was able to bring something as scorned as experimental cinema into the mainstream market.

[TruthNugget85]

Join the Infinite Jest reading group Aug 2010-Oct 10 on Facebook!

[dirtycelinefrenchman]

hehe

[snarfyguy]

Thanks for posting. What a fascinating interview. I'd never seen or heard DFW speak before. Lipsky's book makes him out to sound like a hick.

[destybenway]

It's ROBERT Rodruigez! WHO is this Guy????

[msclgns]

@destybenway -- Yeah, but there is a Richard Rodriguez author, so I'll allow the slip-up.

[rainbowchild8888]

@destybenway dunno, some hack writer that caught a wave

[orbis2009]

Norman Rockwell was far from "banal".

[TlR6]

@orbis2009 not far from. and notice wallace's facial expressions after any such analysis.

[troumer]

@TlR6 If you're talking about that sort of smile-grimace he makes from time to time, it was a medication side-effect.

[TlR6]

@troumer oh okay, that seems reasonable. it must also contain some sort of exasperation though - forming an opinion, one you will realize is flawed the next day, you know.

[troumer]

@TlR6 I might have thought the same as you if I didn't already know about it. I was lucky enough to see him read twice. The second time (about the same time as this interview) the medication thing came up. As for exasperation making it worse, you may be right, tho I had thought of it as just nervousness. Both here and at that reading, it was more pronounced at the start and gradually lessened as he got more comfortable. But I'm guessing about that.

[dirtycelinefrenchman]

@orbis2009 think he's referring to Rockwell's subject, not his work per se