David Foster Wallace
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Figure Drawing, Or, The Posthumous Persona Of David Foster Wallace
On the eve of a new biopic and on the long tail of posthumous publishing and popularization—Christian Lorentzen takes a long, compassionate, critical look at David Foster Wallace and on the ways in which a prolific writer gets written into the public…
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The Rumpus Interview with Christy Crutchfield
Novelist Christy Crutchfield talks about her debut, How to Catch a Coyote, world building, inspiration, icky fiction, the role of mystery, and the marathon of novel writing
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The Rumpus Interview with Sean Wilsey
Sean Wilsey discusses his latest book of essays, More Curious, being David Foster Wallace’s neighbor, the healing power of the American road trip, and the difference between writing fiction and memoir.
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Short Story Long
Over at the Guardian, Chris Powers tackles David Foster Wallace’s short stories, and their place within his body of work.
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Word of the Day: Quiddity
(n.); the essence or inherent nature of a person or thing; an eccentricity; an odd feature; a trifle, nicety or quibble; from the Latin quid (“what”) “He was friendly, polite, and deeply interested in even the fine points I raised,…
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Irony Genius Vs. Realism Hero
If Franzen is our genius realist, and DFW our genius postmodernist — how might they meld irony and sincerity? In an excerpt over at Salon from his new book, Keep It Fake: Inventing an Authentic Life, Eric G. Wilson talks irony, realism,…
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Indiana, Where Art Thou?
No, I’m thinking of mythology, that America of Madison Avenue and Sunset Boulevard, the Alamo and Antietam. In this spiritual landscape, Indiana isn’t misunderstood. It’s ignored. Over at Electric Literature, Adam Fleming Patty looks for some literary fortune in his infamous…
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Tax Advice from David Foster Wallace
“Tax law is like the world’s biggest game of chess with all sorts of weird conundrums about ethics and civics and the consent of the governed built in,” Wallace wrote in an email to his friend, the novelist Jonathan Franzen,…
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The Rumpus Interview with David Shields and Caleb Powell
Writers David Shields and Caleb Powell can’t stop fighting, even about their new book-length argument and forthcoming film, I Think You’re Totally Wrong.
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This Incredible Writer and Thinker and Person
For The Millions, Jonathan Russell Clark covers Little Brown’s new The David Foster Wallace Reader, touching upon what he calls the writer’s “metanonfiction.” He also discusses, among other things, his hopes for the volume: … if this “Reader” accomplishes anything,…
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The Hole in the Fence at the End of N 7th
I only know one parlor game and it is looking around at young people, feeling deeply in-the-know about their being in endless, pointless distress over insufficiently expressing themselves.
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Between the Lines
While some bibliophiles hold books as sacred artworks to be carefully preserved, others can’t read without a little back-and-forth. Laura Miller makes a case for defacing pages: Marginalia is a blow struck against the idea that reading is a one-way…