The Beak » David Foster Wallace is dead, and I can’t think of a good footnote joke

September 14, 2008

David Foster Wallace is dead, and I can’t think of a good footnote joke

Filed under: English Majors!, Literature — Varius @ 10:01 pm

Here’s an obituary written by someone else.

I’m in an unenviable position here. One of our era’s genuinely important authors is dead, and I don’t know his work, despite having wasted my life getting a useless English degree. If I start reading Infinite Jest now, it’ll seem like a feeble attempt to play catch-up. There’s a nasty bit of irony in there, considering that much of Wallace’s work dealt with the unfortunate way in which honesty and sincere appreciation had come to be perceived as uncool.

Prior to this, the only reason I didn’t read Wallace was because I had other things I wanted to read. Now, the issue is tangled up with paranoia about how the other hipsters will see me, even though none of them have actually read his books either.

I demand David Foster Wallace return to life and write a book about this conundrum.

Digg This Thing:

2 Responses to “David Foster Wallace is dead, and I can’t think of a good footnote joke”

Horatio the Half-Mad Says:
September 14th, 2008 at 11:52 pm
I read one of his books once. It was rather good. I probably wouldn’t read it twice, at least not all the way through, but it wasn’t bad. See? That experience didn’t help me say anything profound at all.
Charlie Slick Says:
September 15th, 2008 at 10:26 pm
Though I’ve never dared The Infinite Jest, his story “Girl With Curious Hair” from the collection of the same name is one of my all time favorites. It’s about a pyromaniac Republican that hangs out with a bunch of acid eating punk rockers at a Keith Jarret concert, and it’s ironicly dedicated to William F. Buckley. What’s not to love? My only footnote to this post is that DFW was a brilliant writer and that he should’ve lived long enough to be mourned as an ancient generational legend, like Vonnegut or Thompson. Rest in peace.