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Meta
orts
orts
Just finished the Lipsky book. It made me sad.
Just finished the Lipsky book. It made me sad.
It made me angry, he’s so fucking great.
It made me angry, he’s so fucking great.
i’m on the verge of finishing IJ. it reads like it was written for a robot professor to compute then auto-summarize. after the nth digression that literally went nowhere, i started to think of how many arguments DFWs must’ve put himself through to avoid doing any real serious edits on the text. with that said, the most memorable passages in the book dwell on ultra-violence.
I dunno, the editing process w/ IJ seems like it was pretty thorough.
I dunno, the editing process w/ IJ seems like it was pretty thorough.
orts
unsure whether this has already been posted somewhere on this site / how much this is old news, will link it anyway: “fictional futures and the conspicuously young” by dfw: http://neugierig.org/content/dfw/ffacy.pdf
unsure whether this has already been posted somewhere on this site / how much this is old news, will link it anyway: “fictional futures and the conspicuously young” by dfw: http://neugierig.org/content/dfw/ffacy.pdf
i’m talking about edits w/r/t overall composition. this may seem a bit bitchy to slag on about (since i didn’t write the damn book, after all) so but i’m convinced that 400-500 pages or so could be whacked out of that thing and it would still be just as impactful.
i decided to read IJ to find out what the hoopla was all about and have come away from the experience thinking that a lot of the people championing the book have likely never read it. i can’t say the same for any other lit. ‘classic’ i’ve ever read that’s on some list of 100 best books ever.
the whole thing’s left me rather bitter.
thanks, anna
thanks, anna
this made my day: Only considerations of space and legal liability restrain me from sharing with you in detail the persistent legend, at one nameless institution, of the embalmed cadaver cadged from the medical school by two deeply troubled young M.F.A. candidates, enrolled in a workshop at their proxy, smuggled pre-bell into the seminar room each week, and propped in its assigned seat, there to clutch a pencil in its white fist and stare straight ahead with an expression of somewhat rigid good cheer. The name of the legend is “The Cadaver That Got a B.”
Just finished the Lipsky book. It made me sad.
for fucks sake, can we please stop mythologizing this man? big deal, he used a dictionary and circled some words. these words aren’t going to shed any new light on his oeuvre.
for fucks sake, can we please stop mythologizing this man? big deal, he used a dictionary and circled some words. these words aren’t going to shed any new light on his oeuvre.
It made me angry, he’s so fucking great.
you’re welcome
you’re welcome
I dunno, the editing process w/ IJ seems like it was pretty thorough.
unsure whether this has already been posted somewhere on this site / how much this is old news, will link it anyway: “fictional futures and the conspicuously young” by dfw: http://neugierig.org/content/dfw/ffacy.pdf
thanks, anna
for fucks sake, can we please stop mythologizing this man? big deal, he used a dictionary and circled some words. these words aren’t going to shed any new light on his oeuvre.
Yeah, that’s what I meant. DFW worked on the edits with Michael Pietch(sp) and Steven Moore; many scenes were cut, many scenes were not cut but greatly compressed, and many scenes were revised over and over and over again, and his editor’s insistence. There’s a lot of info out there on this, if you’re interested. The new DFW archive even has letters from his editor, I think.
I can understand not appreciating IJ, but let’s not be stupid. I’ve read the book like 10x, and I know many others who have read it many many times. The book had its flaws, sure, but it’s still pretty goddamned great.
Yeah, that’s what I meant. DFW worked on the edits with Michael Pietch(sp) and Steven Moore; many scenes were cut, many scenes were not cut but greatly compressed, and many scenes were revised over and over and over again, and his editor’s insistence. There’s a lot of info out there on this, if you’re interested. The new DFW archive even has letters from his editor, I think.
I can understand not appreciating IJ, but let’s not be stupid. I’ve read the book like 10x, and I know many others who have read it many many times. The book had its flaws, sure, but it’s still pretty goddamned great.
you’re welcome
im still holding out hope that the last hundred pages or so melt my face, explodes my head, explodes my face, melts my head, just something that makes me feel like it was all worth it.
honestly, taking out a month to read an entire encyclopedia concomitant with extensive family therapy feels like it would be a better use of the time.
During my first read, the last hundred pages or so constituted one of the most remarkable experiences I’ve had in my life. An uneasy blend of feeling completely 100% connected to a text, and feeling sad about the end of the text being so near.
During my first read, the last hundred pages or so constituted one of the most remarkable experiences I’ve had in my life. An uneasy blend of feeling completely 100% connected to a text, and feeling sad about the end of the text being so near.
This is like the DFW version of the recently viral Google Map of all the places mentioned in Mountain Goats songs.
This is like the DFW version of the recently viral Google Map of all the places mentioned in Mountain Goats songs.
Link to what I’m talking about: http://tinyurl.com/mtgoatsplaces
Link to what I’m talking about: http://tinyurl.com/mtgoatsplaces
hah, this could be a pretty good conceptual study re: lit.: how did do you feel for [name of book] as you read the book from beginning to end?
with the first chapter of IJ i felt: sweet, a study of a guy with asperger’s syndrome.
several hundred chapters later i was like: this novel is like a vonnegut classic with terminal cancer.
100+ pages from the end (including footnotes): this was three novels crammed into one for reasons that make very little sense. also starting to understand the fascination with the concept of “boredom” his next novel is meant to “explore.”
after finishing: N/A
Yeah, that’s what I meant. DFW worked on the edits with Michael Pietch(sp) and Steven Moore; many scenes were cut, many scenes were not cut but greatly compressed, and many scenes were revised over and over and over again, and his editor’s insistence. There’s a lot of info out there on this, if you’re interested. The new DFW archive even has letters from his editor, I think.
I can understand not appreciating IJ, but let’s not be stupid. I’ve read the book like 10x, and I know many others who have read it many many times. The book had its flaws, sure, but it’s still pretty goddamned great.
Too late. He’s a legend and rightfully so.
Too late. He’s a legend and rightfully so.
During my first read, the last hundred pages or so constituted one of the most remarkable experiences I’ve had in my life. An uneasy blend of feeling completely 100% connected to a text, and feeling sad about the end of the text being so near.
This is like the DFW version of the recently viral Google Map of all the places mentioned in Mountain Goats songs.
Link to what I’m talking about: http://tinyurl.com/mtgoatsplaces
Too late. He’s a legend and rightfully so.
I think that by naming the book, and the symbol that stands at its centre, Infinite Jest you’re always going to have to go some way to achieving this sort of effect in structure. Sure there were passages that seemed to last aeons for me, but I was never having a bad time with the text. I think in these areas it moved towards that catatonic bliss that is so important.
Plus, when the heavy-hitting bits come, the violence, sex and background, they land so hard and it’s impossible to ignore or bring yourself to put down. Much like a tape that is so […] neither you or anyone else can drag you from it.
I think that by naming the book, and the symbol that stands at its centre, Infinite Jest you’re always going to have to go some way to achieving this sort of effect in structure. Sure there were passages that seemed to last aeons for me, but I was never having a bad time with the text. I think in these areas it moved towards that catatonic bliss that is so important.
Plus, when the heavy-hitting bits come, the violence, sex and background, they land so hard and it’s impossible to ignore or bring yourself to put down. Much like a tape that is so […] neither you or anyone else can drag you from it.
I think that by naming the book, and the symbol that stands at its centre, Infinite Jest you’re always going to have to go some way to achieving this sort of effect in structure. Sure there were passages that seemed to last aeons for me, but I was never having a bad time with the text. I think in these areas it moved towards that catatonic bliss that is so important.
Plus, when the heavy-hitting bits come, the violence, sex and background, they land so hard and it’s impossible to ignore or bring yourself to put down. Much like a tape that is so […] neither you or anyone else can drag you from it.
It made me both.
It made me both.
Tennis is on the list.
Tennis is on the list.
It made me both.
Tennis is on the list.
Here is a list of all the words I had to look up in the dictionary while reading ONE David Foster Wallace short story, “Tri-Stan: I Sold Sissee Nar to Ecko”:
epiclete
esurient
crispate
telephemically
oneirically
nystagmic
callid
dithyrabicizes
invidious
dybbuk
benthic
palpebral
morphean*
thanaticism
sibilant**
parthenopic
threnody
fulgence
anamnetic
thanaphiliacal
Empedoclean
ortolan
oneiromancy***
peripetially
imbricately
epexegetic
descantant
periphrastic
mithridatitic
epexegesis****
Encomium
Here is a list of all the words I felt ‘proud to say’ I already knew the meaning of:
kudzu
carie
erythema
comedones
gingivitic
mythopoeic
mythopoeia
apotheosis
miscegenate
cloacal
littoral
chimeracity
vulgate
phogistic
neurasthenics
carbuncular
desiderative
miscegenation
Here’s a list of words that I already knew the meaning of, didn’t feel particularly ‘proud’:
aegis
remunerated
sartorially
factota
undulant
moebioid
paroxysms
aquilinity
mythophilic
kabal
senescence
hirsutely
ineluctable
implacable
pulchritude
continence
recumbency
narcosis
aphasiac
retumesced
And whaddup with ‘unionized’ on page 249? “Am I to read this ‘un-ion-ized’ or ‘union-ized’?” I thought for a split second. But then I seamlessly conjectured that the text’s ‘unionized melt’ was the slow fade-to-black of a just-turned-off cathode tube.
And ‘triballistic’ gave me a little throb. I like the ‘tribal’ in there. ‘tri-ballistic’/ ‘tribal-listic’ (sic).
In conclusion I would like to say that this story had a lot of fancy words in it.
My two favorite words in the whole story were “Kill Fee”.
* (previously thought I knew what this word means, realized I didn’t)
** (felt bad I didn’t know this one)
*** (didn’t actually hafta look this one up, having already looked up oneirically)
**** (!)
Here is a list of all the words I had to look up in the dictionary while reading ONE David Foster Wallace short story, “Tri-Stan: I Sold Sissee Nar to Ecko”:
epiclete
esurient
crispate
telephemically
oneirically
nystagmic
callid
dithyrabicizes
invidious
dybbuk
benthic
palpebral
morphean*
thanaticism
sibilant**
parthenopic
threnody
fulgence
anamnetic
thanaphiliacal
Empedoclean
ortolan
oneiromancy***
peripetially
imbricately
epexegetic
descantant
periphrastic
mithridatitic
epexegesis****
Encomium
Here is a list of all the words I felt ‘proud to say’ I already knew the meaning of:
kudzu
carie
erythema
comedones
gingivitic
mythopoeic
mythopoeia
apotheosis
miscegenate
cloacal
littoral
chimeracity
vulgate
phogistic
neurasthenics
carbuncular
desiderative
miscegenation
Here’s a list of words that I already knew the meaning of, didn’t feel particularly ‘proud’:
aegis
remunerated
sartorially
factota
undulant
moebioid
paroxysms
aquilinity
mythophilic
kabal
senescence
hirsutely
ineluctable
implacable
pulchritude
continence
recumbency
narcosis
aphasiac
retumesced
And whaddup with ‘unionized’ on page 249? “Am I to read this ‘un-ion-ized’ or ‘union-ized’?” I thought for a split second. But then I seamlessly conjectured that the text’s ‘unionized melt’ was the slow fade-to-black of a just-turned-off cathode tube.
And ‘triballistic’ gave me a little throb. I like the ‘tribal’ in there. ‘tri-ballistic’/ ‘tribal-listic’ (sic).
In conclusion I would like to say that this story had a lot of fancy words in it.
My two favorite words in the whole story were “Kill Fee”.
* (previously thought I knew what this word means, realized I didn’t)
** (felt bad I didn’t know this one)
*** (didn’t actually hafta look this one up, having already looked up oneirically)
**** (!)
* sibylant, rather
* sibylant, rather
Here is a list of all the words I had to look up in the dictionary while reading ONE David Foster Wallace short story, “Tri-Stan: I Sold Sissee Nar to Ecko”:
epiclete
esurient
crispate
telephemically
oneirically
nystagmic
callid
dithyrabicizes
invidious
dybbuk
benthic
palpebral
morphean*
thanaticism
sibilant**
parthenopic
threnody
fulgence
anamnetic
thanaphiliacal
Empedoclean
ortolan
oneiromancy***
peripetially
imbricately
epexegetic
descantant
periphrastic
mithridatitic
epexegesis****
Encomium
Here is a list of all the words I felt ‘proud to say’ I already knew the meaning of:
kudzu
carie
erythema
comedones
gingivitic
mythopoeic
mythopoeia
apotheosis
miscegenate
cloacal
littoral
chimeracity
vulgate
phogistic
neurasthenics
carbuncular
desiderative
miscegenation
Here’s a list of words that I already knew the meaning of, didn’t feel particularly ‘proud’:
aegis
remunerated
sartorially
factota
undulant
moebioid
paroxysms
aquilinity
mythophilic
kabal
senescence
hirsutely
ineluctable
implacable
pulchritude
continence
recumbency
narcosis
aphasiac
retumesced
And whaddup with ‘unionized’ on page 249? “Am I to read this ‘un-ion-ized’ or ‘union-ized’?” I thought for a split second. But then I seamlessly conjectured that the text’s ‘unionized melt’ was the slow fade-to-black of a just-turned-off cathode tube.
And ‘triballistic’ gave me a little throb. I like the ‘tribal’ in there. ‘tri-ballistic’/ ‘tribal-listic’ (sic).
In conclusion I would like to say that this story had a lot of fancy words in it.
My two favorite words in the whole story were “Kill Fee”.
* (previously thought I knew what this word means, realized I didn’t)
** (felt bad I didn’t know this one)
*** (didn’t actually hafta look this one up, having already looked up oneirically)
**** (!)
* sibylant, rather