“Every guy I’ve ever dated had an unread copy on his bookshelf.”
What’s funny is that a young woman would think this was a comment about men rather than a comment about herself.
Steve Murray
9 months ago
I wonder if it’s ever occurred to Sarah Ditum that what she writes is actually more interesting than the subject of this piece? The American zeitgeist is something that i’m familiar with only via films and music, and i’ve no doubt that DFW (the subject) represents a particular timeframe in the US that’s now passed with the advance of technology. Must say, he just sounds like a creep – full stop.
But take this passage:
Gender as we experience it now — the idea of an “essence” or “true self” that renders the material body irrelevant — couldn’t have come to exist without the internet. Only when technology allowed people to present themselves as pure language, signifier unmoored from signified, did it become possible to believe that sex was malleable or unreal.
That looks to me like something significant that she’s contributing to our understanding of where we are. If it took the re-reading of DFW to elicit that passage, then his exhumation by Ditum is probably worth it; because it rings true, but it remains her insight.
Another significant point she raises regards video calls. These achieved a kind of ubiquity during the pandemic, and were posited as “the future” in terms of interpersonal communication. The association with the pandemic may itself have induced a recoil from that prospect; but further than that, the unremitting requirement of being “seen” during a video call is probably more than humans can bear. We find all kinds of ways of hiding ourselves in plain view, the better to observe our surroundings; video calls disrupt that very human tendency and i personally find them disconcerting to the point of almost complete avoidance now. So again, what she writes rings true.
What this piece demonstrates above all else, is that our creative output can be triggered by something we regard as significant but which we may be capable of surpassing. I’d suggest that this trait gives fresh impetus to every generation in clambering on the backs of its predecessors in pushing us through towards the future: a positive outcome that DFW failed to envisage.
I agree with your comment up to the last statement. The author has exhumed the book and distinguished it from the man. In that she has done us all a great service.
DFW was brilliant and he was ill. Don’t you feel that pointing out the authenticity in a representational life is a positive step ? I certainly do. It wasn’t the failure to move beyond the representational that caused his demise; Infinite Jest is art that stands on its own. Perhaps you are failing to separate the ill man from the brilliance of his work, which leaves the reader shattered, exposed, but informed and on guard.
I agree with your comment up to the last statement. The author has exhumed the book and distinguished it from the man. In that she has done us all a great service.
DFW was brilliant and he was ill. Don’t you feel that pointing out the authenticity in a representational life is a positive step ? I certainly do. It wasn’t the failure to move beyond the representational that caused his demise; Infinite Jest is art that stands on its own. Perhaps you are failing to separate the ill man from the brilliance of his work, which leaves the reader shattered, exposed, but informed and on guard.
Steve Murray
9 months ago
I wonder if it’s ever occurred to Sarah Ditum that what she writes is actually more interesting than the subject of this piece? The American zeitgeist is something that i’m familiar with only via films and music, and i’ve no doubt that DFW (the subject) represents a particular timeframe in the US that’s now passed with the advance of technology. Must say, he just sounds like a creep – full stop.
But take this passage:
Gender as we experience it now — the idea of an “essence” or “true self” that renders the material body irrelevant — couldn’t have come to exist without the internet. Only when technology allowed people to present themselves as pure language, signifier unmoored from signified, did it become possible to believe that sex was malleable or unreal.
That looks to me like something significant that she’s contributing to our understanding of where we are. If it took the re-reading of DFW to elicit that passage, then his exhumation by Ditum is probably worth it; because it rings true, but it remains her insight.
Another significant point she raises regards video calls. These achieved a kind of ubiquity during the pandemic, and were posited as “the future” in terms of interpersonal communication. The association with the pandemic may itself have induced a recoil from that prospect; but further than that, the unremitting requirement of being “seen” during a video call is probably more than humans can bear. We find all kinds of ways of hiding ourselves in plain view, the better to observe our surroundings; video calls disrupt that very human tendency and i personally find them disconcerting to the point of almost complete avoidance now. So again, what she writes rings true.
What this piece demonstrates above all else, is that our creative output can be triggered by something we regard as significant but which we may be capable of surpassing. I’d suggest that this trait gives fresh impetus to every generation in clambering on the backs of its predecessors in pushing us through towards the future: a positive outcome that DFW failed to envisage.
Last edited 9 months ago by Steve Murray
Gayle Rosenthal
9 months ago
I am the mother of 3 sons who came of age just before and just after the year 2000, post-AIDS, cutting their teeth on Zelda, Mario Brothers, coding, and the internet. All are quite brilliant, talented and well-educated. I’m not just saying this as MOM; they have/had the creds to prove it. They all read Infinite Jest, were fans of DFW and felt a huge sense of compassion and loss for the genius that he was. One of my sons practically lived the life of DFW in that he was successful, ill, insecure and ultimately rejected by women, and is now deceased too young.
That a modern young woman would view the presence of the novel, Infinite Jest, on the bookshelf of a male peer as an indictment of their character is so utterly shallow and shameful that it makes me want to vomit. The author is correct to revisit the true point of the book, and the true point of living an authentic life. There are both men and women who are maladapted to modern life, or just plain life. The idea that they have become pariahs and throwaways in society … perhaps this means that our society really isn’t worth redeeming.
Gayle Rosenthal
9 months ago
I am the mother of 3 sons who came of age just before and just after the year 2000, post-AIDS, cutting their teeth on Zelda, Mario Brothers, coding, and the internet. All are quite brilliant, talented and well-educated. I’m not just saying this as MOM; they have/had the creds to prove it. They all read Infinite Jest, were fans of DFW and felt a huge sense of compassion and loss for the genius that he was. One of my sons practically lived the life of DFW in that he was successful, ill, insecure and ultimately rejected by women, and is now deceased too young.
That a modern young woman would view the presence of the novel, Infinite Jest, on the bookshelf of a male peer as an indictment of their character is so utterly shallow and shameful that it makes me want to vomit. The author is correct to revisit the true point of the book, and the true point of living an authentic life. There are both men and women who are maladapted to modern life, or just plain life. The idea that they have become pariahs and throwaways in society … perhaps this means that our society really isn’t worth redeeming.
Pat Rowles
9 months ago
The disturbing fact of Wallace’s own bad acts, too, was not available to me in the Nineties, and even if it had been it probably wouldn’t have struck me as a problem for the novel.
I don’t see why it should, and I fail to understand this compulsion to judge the art on the basis of the artist’s life. Stephen King posts some of the most jaw-droppingly boneheaded Tweets I’ve ever seen, yet I remain one of his Constant Readers.
Pat Rowles
9 months ago
The disturbing fact of Wallace’s own bad acts, too, was not available to me in the Nineties, and even if it had been it probably wouldn’t have struck me as a problem for the novel.
I don’t see why it should, and I fail to understand this compulsion to judge the art on the basis of the artist’s life. Stephen King posts some of the most jaw-droppingly boneheaded Tweets I’ve ever seen, yet I remain one of his Constant Readers.
Russell Hamilton
9 months ago
Read the book when it came out, but all I can remember is that it was very funny, in a quirky way. I definitely would have read another book of his.
His essays are fun, incisive, and accessible in ways that “Infinite Jest” isn’t – much as I retain an affection for that novel, frustrating as I find it in so many ways. “Consider the lobster” and “A supposedly fun thing I’ll never do again” are two collections I enjoyed.
His essays are fun, incisive, and accessible in ways that “Infinite Jest” isn’t – much as I retain an affection for that novel, frustrating as I find it in so many ways. “Consider the lobster” and “A supposedly fun thing I’ll never do again” are two collections I enjoyed.
Russell Hamilton
9 months ago
Read the book when it came out, but all I can remember is that it was very funny, in a quirky way. I definitely would have read another book of his.
Chris Amies
9 months ago
I must admit to having read it (and then given my copy away) before I realised it was tainted with being the ‘pretentious literature undergrad’ go-to read, which isn’t its fault; isn’t “House of Leaves” that for a more recent generation? As well as videocalls he also seems to have predicted Donald Trump, although his ‘President Johnny Gentle’ is more half Ronald Reagan and half Ross Perot.
Chris Amies
9 months ago
I must admit to having read it (and then given my copy away) before I realised it was tainted with being the ‘pretentious literature undergrad’ go-to read, which isn’t its fault; isn’t “House of Leaves” that for a more recent generation? As well as videocalls he also seems to have predicted Donald Trump, although his ‘President Johnny Gentle’ is more half Ronald Reagan and half Ross Perot.
Dermot O'Sullivan
9 months ago
A book I don’t remember too much about, other than to say I thought it was very good, if uneven at times. I’ve heard it described as ‘a blizzard of a novel’ and that’s close enough to my experience. The article here I found difficult to read and it didn’t enlighten me in the least.
Dermot O'Sullivan
9 months ago
A book I don’t remember too much about, other than to say I thought it was very good, if uneven at times. I’ve heard it described as ‘a blizzard of a novel’ and that’s close enough to my experience. The article here I found difficult to read and it didn’t enlighten me in the least.
“Every guy I’ve ever dated had an unread copy on his bookshelf.”
What’s funny is that a young woman would think this was a comment about men rather than a comment about herself.
Own goals are the best.
What an excellent comment.
Own goals are the best.
What an excellent comment.
“Every guy I’ve ever dated had an unread copy on his bookshelf.”
What’s funny is that a young woman would think this was a comment about men rather than a comment about herself.
I wonder if it’s ever occurred to Sarah Ditum that what she writes is actually more interesting than the subject of this piece? The American zeitgeist is something that i’m familiar with only via films and music, and i’ve no doubt that DFW (the subject) represents a particular timeframe in the US that’s now passed with the advance of technology. Must say, he just sounds like a creep – full stop.
But take this passage:
That looks to me like something significant that she’s contributing to our understanding of where we are. If it took the re-reading of DFW to elicit that passage, then his exhumation by Ditum is probably worth it; because it rings true, but it remains her insight.
Another significant point she raises regards video calls. These achieved a kind of ubiquity during the pandemic, and were posited as “the future” in terms of interpersonal communication. The association with the pandemic may itself have induced a recoil from that prospect; but further than that, the unremitting requirement of being “seen” during a video call is probably more than humans can bear. We find all kinds of ways of hiding ourselves in plain view, the better to observe our surroundings; video calls disrupt that very human tendency and i personally find them disconcerting to the point of almost complete avoidance now. So again, what she writes rings true.
What this piece demonstrates above all else, is that our creative output can be triggered by something we regard as significant but which we may be capable of surpassing. I’d suggest that this trait gives fresh impetus to every generation in clambering on the backs of its predecessors in pushing us through towards the future: a positive outcome that DFW failed to envisage.
I agree with your comment up to the last statement. The author has exhumed the book and distinguished it from the man. In that she has done us all a great service.
DFW was brilliant and he was ill. Don’t you feel that pointing out the authenticity in a representational life is a positive step ? I certainly do. It wasn’t the failure to move beyond the representational that caused his demise; Infinite Jest is art that stands on its own. Perhaps you are failing to separate the ill man from the brilliance of his work, which leaves the reader shattered, exposed, but informed and on guard.
I agree with your comment up to the last statement. The author has exhumed the book and distinguished it from the man. In that she has done us all a great service.
DFW was brilliant and he was ill. Don’t you feel that pointing out the authenticity in a representational life is a positive step ? I certainly do. It wasn’t the failure to move beyond the representational that caused his demise; Infinite Jest is art that stands on its own. Perhaps you are failing to separate the ill man from the brilliance of his work, which leaves the reader shattered, exposed, but informed and on guard.
I wonder if it’s ever occurred to Sarah Ditum that what she writes is actually more interesting than the subject of this piece? The American zeitgeist is something that i’m familiar with only via films and music, and i’ve no doubt that DFW (the subject) represents a particular timeframe in the US that’s now passed with the advance of technology. Must say, he just sounds like a creep – full stop.
But take this passage:
That looks to me like something significant that she’s contributing to our understanding of where we are. If it took the re-reading of DFW to elicit that passage, then his exhumation by Ditum is probably worth it; because it rings true, but it remains her insight.
Another significant point she raises regards video calls. These achieved a kind of ubiquity during the pandemic, and were posited as “the future” in terms of interpersonal communication. The association with the pandemic may itself have induced a recoil from that prospect; but further than that, the unremitting requirement of being “seen” during a video call is probably more than humans can bear. We find all kinds of ways of hiding ourselves in plain view, the better to observe our surroundings; video calls disrupt that very human tendency and i personally find them disconcerting to the point of almost complete avoidance now. So again, what she writes rings true.
What this piece demonstrates above all else, is that our creative output can be triggered by something we regard as significant but which we may be capable of surpassing. I’d suggest that this trait gives fresh impetus to every generation in clambering on the backs of its predecessors in pushing us through towards the future: a positive outcome that DFW failed to envisage.
I am the mother of 3 sons who came of age just before and just after the year 2000, post-AIDS, cutting their teeth on Zelda, Mario Brothers, coding, and the internet. All are quite brilliant, talented and well-educated. I’m not just saying this as MOM; they have/had the creds to prove it. They all read Infinite Jest, were fans of DFW and felt a huge sense of compassion and loss for the genius that he was. One of my sons practically lived the life of DFW in that he was successful, ill, insecure and ultimately rejected by women, and is now deceased too young.
That a modern young woman would view the presence of the novel, Infinite Jest, on the bookshelf of a male peer as an indictment of their character is so utterly shallow and shameful that it makes me want to vomit. The author is correct to revisit the true point of the book, and the true point of living an authentic life. There are both men and women who are maladapted to modern life, or just plain life. The idea that they have become pariahs and throwaways in society … perhaps this means that our society really isn’t worth redeeming.
I am the mother of 3 sons who came of age just before and just after the year 2000, post-AIDS, cutting their teeth on Zelda, Mario Brothers, coding, and the internet. All are quite brilliant, talented and well-educated. I’m not just saying this as MOM; they have/had the creds to prove it. They all read Infinite Jest, were fans of DFW and felt a huge sense of compassion and loss for the genius that he was. One of my sons practically lived the life of DFW in that he was successful, ill, insecure and ultimately rejected by women, and is now deceased too young.
That a modern young woman would view the presence of the novel, Infinite Jest, on the bookshelf of a male peer as an indictment of their character is so utterly shallow and shameful that it makes me want to vomit. The author is correct to revisit the true point of the book, and the true point of living an authentic life. There are both men and women who are maladapted to modern life, or just plain life. The idea that they have become pariahs and throwaways in society … perhaps this means that our society really isn’t worth redeeming.
I don’t see why it should, and I fail to understand this compulsion to judge the art on the basis of the artist’s life. Stephen King posts some of the most jaw-droppingly boneheaded Tweets I’ve ever seen, yet I remain one of his Constant Readers.
I don’t see why it should, and I fail to understand this compulsion to judge the art on the basis of the artist’s life. Stephen King posts some of the most jaw-droppingly boneheaded Tweets I’ve ever seen, yet I remain one of his Constant Readers.
Read the book when it came out, but all I can remember is that it was very funny, in a quirky way. I definitely would have read another book of his.
His essays are fun, incisive, and accessible in ways that “Infinite Jest” isn’t – much as I retain an affection for that novel, frustrating as I find it in so many ways. “Consider the lobster” and “A supposedly fun thing I’ll never do again” are two collections I enjoyed.
I’ve heard it said that DFW was a journalist who thought for some reason that he ought to write fiction.
I’ve heard it said that DFW was a journalist who thought for some reason that he ought to write fiction.
His essays are fun, incisive, and accessible in ways that “Infinite Jest” isn’t – much as I retain an affection for that novel, frustrating as I find it in so many ways. “Consider the lobster” and “A supposedly fun thing I’ll never do again” are two collections I enjoyed.
Read the book when it came out, but all I can remember is that it was very funny, in a quirky way. I definitely would have read another book of his.
I must admit to having read it (and then given my copy away) before I realised it was tainted with being the ‘pretentious literature undergrad’ go-to read, which isn’t its fault; isn’t “House of Leaves” that for a more recent generation? As well as videocalls he also seems to have predicted Donald Trump, although his ‘President Johnny Gentle’ is more half Ronald Reagan and half Ross Perot.
I must admit to having read it (and then given my copy away) before I realised it was tainted with being the ‘pretentious literature undergrad’ go-to read, which isn’t its fault; isn’t “House of Leaves” that for a more recent generation? As well as videocalls he also seems to have predicted Donald Trump, although his ‘President Johnny Gentle’ is more half Ronald Reagan and half Ross Perot.
A book I don’t remember too much about, other than to say I thought it was very good, if uneven at times. I’ve heard it described as ‘a blizzard of a novel’ and that’s close enough to my experience. The article here I found difficult to read and it didn’t enlighten me in the least.
A book I don’t remember too much about, other than to say I thought it was very good, if uneven at times. I’ve heard it described as ‘a blizzard of a novel’ and that’s close enough to my experience. The article here I found difficult to read and it didn’t enlighten me in the least.
Zzzzzzzzzzzz…….
Zzzzzzzzzzzz…….