March 31st, 2009 / 5:28 pm
Web Hype

Today at the Daily Rumpus: Useful Additions to D.T. Max’s “The Unfinished”

Rumpus regular Elissa Bassist offers up “Notes and Errata: A DFW Companion Guide to ‘The Unfinished’ by D.T. Max.” (I think we reported on the Max piece when it first came out, but anyone needing a refresher can get one here.) Basically, her piece catalogues any DFW work, interviews, or otherwise relevant points of reference in Max’s piece and, if that work or parts of it are available anywhere online, she links to it. Por ejemplo:

5. “Anything comforting put him on guard. ‘It seems important to find ways of reminding ourselves that most ‘familiarity’ is meditated and delusive,’ he said in a long 1991 interview with Larry McCaffery, an English professor at San Diego State.”

6. “The critic James Wood* cited Infinite Jest as representative of the kind of fiction dedicated to the ‘pursuit of vitality at all costs.’”
*Two pertinent links: Book Review: James Wood’s The Irresponsible Self, by Nigel Beale(the quotation “pursuit of vitality at all costs” is given context here); Remembering David Foster Wallace (Wood’s comment is last)

Thanks for the good work, Elissa! I’m sure putting something like this together was tedious and time-consuming, but there are a lot of people out there who will be grateful you took the time to do it.

Other DFW stuff of note:

Also at The Daily Rumpus: John Krasinski talks about adapting Brief Interviews with Hideous Men for the screen.

At The Believer, Dave Eggers’s 2003 interview with DFW has been made available online.

Over at The New Yorker, D.T. Max answered readers’ questions about writing “The Unfinished.”

Other Elissa Bassist stuff of note:

A Call for the Rebirth of Literary Magazines

“Unlove: A Literary Breakup List”

Hell with it– here’s everything she’s written for The Daily Rumpus

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4 Comments

  1. Ken Baumann

      Nice compendium.

  2. Ken Baumann

      Nice compendium.

  3. Nathan (Nate) Tyree

      I kinda miss DFW. Apres Wallace, les deluge.

  4. Nathan (Nate) Tyree

      I kinda miss DFW. Apres Wallace, les deluge.