David Foster Wallace on Realism, Irony, & Commercial Art

A brief clip from an interview: David Foster Wallace discusses Realism, Irony, & Commercial Art.

• Category

  Comedy

[moffettone]

anybody know where I can find the interview in its entirety?

[plasticbratt]

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This particular clip can be heard in two different episodes of PRI's To the Best of Our Knowledge. If you search the shows archives, you will find a few DFW appearances. Most notably, there is a Wallace retrospective episode released after his death, which includes clips from previous shows along with some really good/moving interviews with Amy Wallace and others. The KCRW Bookworm episodes are far better, I think, but the TTBOOK stuff is really valuable.

[William Dunn]

Yes, and it's interesting how that set of worries resonates throughout his work. Like the Harper's essay about usage, where he's talking about "discourse communities" (or whatever the phrase is) in schools and the need to be accepted by peers even if the content of those peers' world-view is kinda anathema.

[8644371]

I've heard him talk a lot about a face-value/inner-value conflict. I wonder if it depressed him a lot.

Damn. I have to pick up one of his books some time.

[TheBloobleeblah]

Someone accidentally hit the dislike button. Try again.

[spd13062]

"relentlessly corrosive to the soul".....

[Bastard471]

too easy.

[RevolutionaryLoser]

I think I'm in the minority that doesn't have this problem at all. If you feel you can't reconcile your sense of irony with your basic emotions maybe reading Homestuck would help.

[IamTHEredux]

Wow. What a brilliant way to explain something so many people feel.

[cosg9531]

A shame he chose for his appearance to be brief.

[moffettone]

thanks

[borjon23]

The "inner sap" sounds a great deal to me like the "sacred"... something that can't or shouldn't be subjected to parody and humor.