so i finally read a supposedly fun thing
pretty effing awesome
not that yall didnt know that
― kim cardassian (s1ocki), Tuesday, 27 July 2010 12:11 (thirteen years ago) link
pretty sure that if DFW had opted to see Jane 'Loose Women' McDonald on his cruise rather than only mention her in passing in a footnote he'd have enjoyed it a lot more.
― Merdeyeux, Tuesday, 27 July 2010 12:18 (thirteen years ago) link
the title essay of a supposedly fun thing... is a riot.
― jed_, Tuesday, 27 July 2010 12:29 (thirteen years ago) link
ya that's what i'm talking about
can't believe it's taken me this long
what a giant brain that man was
― kim cardassian (s1ocki), Tuesday, 27 July 2010 12:32 (thirteen years ago) link
I think I read a supposedly fun thing a few months after returning from a 7 day cruise in the alaskas and the man was OTMFM to the power of OTMFM
― You’re going off of her word that the farmer’s wife is the farmer’s wife? (dyao), Tuesday, 27 July 2010 12:35 (thirteen years ago) link
the description of food
― kim cardassian (s1ocki), Tuesday, 27 July 2010 12:35 (thirteen years ago) link
kind of wondering what the instructions he left re: publishing actually were, now
― thomp, Tuesday, 27 July 2010 12:45 (thirteen years ago) link
i mean, between that, the last novel, the 'this is water' thing, the lipsky book, there are more books "by" wallace out in the last two years than in any year he was alive and working
'any equivalent period', i guess, rather than 'any year'
― thomp, Tuesday, 27 July 2010 12:46 (thirteen years ago) link
yeah publishing this (it's a thesis from Amherst, i think) is tacky, i think
― Mr. Que, Tuesday, 27 July 2010 12:47 (thirteen years ago) link
re: supposedly fun thing... the whole thing about the replacing of the used towels is hysterical.
― jed_, Tuesday, 27 July 2010 12:47 (thirteen years ago) link
any book cover with his picture on it is super tacky
― kim cardassian (s1ocki), Tuesday, 27 July 2010 12:48 (thirteen years ago) link
the fact that it "reproduces Taylor's original article and other works on fatalism cited by Wallace in his critique" makes it seem tackier even. Like, what are we getting? A 50 page DFW paper along with a bunch of other stuff, selling it all on the DFW name, or what? I'm sure it'll be interesting and all, but I'm 1. geeky and 2. prurient like that.
― Merdeyeux, Tuesday, 27 July 2010 12:51 (thirteen years ago) link
on the other hand, of course, i want to read it
― thomp, Tuesday, 27 July 2010 12:55 (thirteen years ago) link
i look forward to pedants treating it like the linguistics and math stuff though |:
― thomp, Tuesday, 27 July 2010 12:56 (thirteen years ago) link
Que's right, it is his Amherst philosophy thesis
― markers, Tuesday, 27 July 2010 16:17 (thirteen years ago) link
also, I'd imagine if he'd had wanted it published, he would've probably had it published a long time ago
that being said, yeah, I'm buying it
meh, seemed like he stated the obvious while over-using lengthy footnotes gimmick
nicholson baker, on the other hand...
― dell (del), Tuesday, 27 July 2010 18:26 (thirteen years ago) link
eh tbh for a guy by whom I thought I'd read anything (is that tortured and ungrammatical or just tortured) I am not too fussed about his (70 page, says the Amherst library catalogue - let's just go there and read it!) undergraduate thesis. Except that his other undergraduate thesis is The Broom of the System. And it sounds cool. So I'll read it anyway. But fuck.
― Merdeyeux, Tuesday, 27 July 2010 18:35 (thirteen years ago) link
although I'm gonna be really embarrassed if I get all celebrated and shit and someone releases my undergrad philosophy thesis. And I only wrote it two years ago.
― Merdeyeux, Tuesday, 27 July 2010 18:36 (thirteen years ago) link
I don't know the details of this with an undergrad thesis at Amherst, but often these things are a matter of record -- they're, you know, official fulfillments of educational requirements, not strictly personal creative property.
Which can be creepy, because yeah, there's something weird about reading (and especially publishing) someone's "homework" just because of who they turned out to be. I mean, I think there's some value to this stuff within the field -- didn't parts of this get published in academic journals? And it's probably valuable to critics/biographers/close-readers who want to, say, dig into the philosophical stuff in Broom of the System. Which are decent reasons for preserving it, but ... giving it a cover like that and trying to suggest it as a piece of Wallaciana is worth a lot of eye-rolling.
― oɔsıqɐu (nabisco), Tuesday, 27 July 2010 18:51 (thirteen years ago) link
god when im a famous legendary author i hope NO ONE reads my senior thesis
― max, Tuesday, 27 July 2010 18:53 (thirteen years ago) link
haha i was just thinking thank god i'll never be famous. maybe i can get my school to burn the copy they have...
― horseshoe, Tuesday, 27 July 2010 18:54 (thirteen years ago) link
forget the theses, worry about them publishing ilx threads
― kim cardassian (s1ocki), Tuesday, 27 July 2010 18:55 (thirteen years ago) link
my thesis is a lot more embarrassing iirc
― horseshoe, Tuesday, 27 July 2010 18:56 (thirteen years ago) link
eh i have a lot of good jokes on ilx
― max, Tuesday, 27 July 2010 18:56 (thirteen years ago) link
haha xp
arent all theses kept in school libraries anyways
― puff puff post (uh oh I'm having a fantasy), Tuesday, 27 July 2010 18:58 (thirteen years ago) link
nabisco: if I remember correctly, he was told that it was a publishable piece of philosophy that would actually make a contribution to the field, but I'm not sure he ever actually published the thing or even excerpts anywhere. I can only imagine that, if he were still alive, he wouldn't be too thrilled at the idea of this being published. there has to be some reason it's only being released now, right? and sure, it'll be great for Wallace scholars, but even then it's like, if the dude didn't want people seeing this thing, maybe we just shouldn't be seeing it
― markers, Tuesday, 27 July 2010 19:02 (thirteen years ago) link
i haven't even really read up too much on what's in his archives, but I wonder how he would've felt with all of that stuff being owned by someone else. the idea of some institution having a bunch of my personal stuff for other people to comb through is a little bit O_O
― markers, Tuesday, 27 July 2010 19:04 (thirteen years ago) link
xpost - I might be talking out of my ass here, but I think there are distinctions between (a) things that are archived and on-record in school libraries, and (b) things that are on-record but sort of sealed unless you become a notable enough figure that there's some public interest in seeing it?
Markers: as a former (work-study) archivist of things like this, I will offer the following advice -- if you're leaving your papers to some institution, be REALLY ORGANIZED about what's in the papers and what's in your personal belongings, or some college kid hired to sort through your stuff will get really interested in your personal life. (The nicest thing I ever found was doing this was a series of emails a guy had printed out where he was corresponding with a woman in the field about how excited they were to finally meet each other at a conference: it was ever-so-slightly flirty and extremely sweet, particularly when charged by remembering that dude was dead.)
― oɔsıqɐu (nabisco), Tuesday, 27 July 2010 19:10 (thirteen years ago) link
― You’re going off of her word that the farmer’s wife is the farmer’s wife? (dyao), Tuesday, July 27, 2010 12:35 PM (6 hours ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink
yeah i mentioned this probably on ilx before but rereading that after going on a carnival cruise w/wifey's fam was just.....unreal....it might be the most amazing essay ever
― my dream is to own a fly casino (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Tuesday, 27 July 2010 19:11 (thirteen years ago) link
xpost
if you're leaving your papers to some institution, be REALLY ORGANIZED about what's in the papers and what's in your personal belongings
of course! but in DFW's case, the situation's way more complicated than that insofar as he didn't get the final say over what was donated and what wasn't. right? unless he left some instructions I'm completely unaware of
― markers, Tuesday, 27 July 2010 19:13 (thirteen years ago) link
i should go read up on this more. a lot was written about his archives and I didn't check any of that stuff out carefully enough
To be fair though, when you submit an undergraduate thesis chances are you're not thinking about whether opportunistic publishers are going to cash in on it after you become really famous.
― There's Money To Be Made in Ice Cream (EDB), Tuesday, 27 July 2010 19:20 (thirteen years ago) link
oh I didn't know it was an undergrad thesis, that's p fucked up
― puff puff post (uh oh I'm having a fantasy), Tuesday, 27 July 2010 19:22 (thirteen years ago) link
the thought of anybody reading my undergrad thesis has me literally sweating...it was such a mailed in piece of shit from a burnout
like there are times when I fantasize about offering to redo the whole thing to my prof, just to clear the whole thing from my conscience
― You’re going off of her word that the farmer’s wife is the farmer’s wife? (dyao), Tuesday, 27 July 2010 19:22 (thirteen years ago) link
― You’re going off of her word that the farmer’s wife is the farmer’s wife? (dyao), Tuesday, July 27, 2010 3:22 PM (52 seconds ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink
hahaha 10000000000000000000000x otm. still afraid to talk to my thesis advisor
― max, Tuesday, 27 July 2010 19:23 (thirteen years ago) link
lol
― markers, Tuesday, 27 July 2010 20:03 (thirteen years ago) link
nah dude anyone can go read it and possibly make a copy
http://fcaw.library.umass.edu:8991/F/75L2BX8B7C8748Q255MJ7QXVT4CP5NMS7LB8RU8VSCXL3FMPQD-07357?func=full-set-set&set_number=111224&set_entry=000030&format=999
― Mr. Que, Tuesday, 27 July 2010 21:32 (thirteen years ago) link
what does Item Status Library Use Only mean? just can't check it out?
― markers, Tuesday, 27 July 2010 21:46 (thirteen years ago) link
http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/09/14/unfinshed-david-foster-wallace-novel-gets-cover-and-release-date/
LETS DO THIS
― markers, Wednesday, 15 September 2010 04:34 (thirteen years ago) link
Little, Brown said it will release “The Pale King” on – when else? – April 15.
― markers, Wednesday, 15 September 2010 04:35 (thirteen years ago) link
started the the Lipsky book last night...OMFG i want to KILL LIPSKY
obv a lot of this is fascinating esp cuz the stuff i was reading was DFW on the eve of Infinite Jest coming out and the book tour, etc...really great stuff but goddamn Lipsky is such a douchebag...everything in brackets in this book should be shot in the head.
worst thing so far:
he makes some aside early on after DFW uses the word "lonely" like "[He uses "lonely" a lot]
then later after the word comes up again (for only like the 2nd time), he brackets:
[the word lonely, again; interesting]
OH REALLY SIGMUND FUCKING FREUD...I CAN JUST SEE YOU STROKING YR BEARD AND GAZING DOWN AT YOUR NOTEPAD...WHY HOW FASCINATING THAT THE GREAT WRITER WHO BATTLED WITH DEPRESSION AND EVENTUALLY KILLED HIMSELF USED THE WORD LONELY, HOW FUCKING REVEALING....THANKS FOR POINTING THAT OUT...FUCK YOU.
― skreet walking cheeduh widda head fulla facepalm (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Tuesday, 9 November 2010 18:04 (thirteen years ago) link
(still it's way worth it just for the dfw freestyling thoughts stuff)
― skreet walking cheeduh widda head fulla facepalm (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Tuesday, 9 November 2010 18:05 (thirteen years ago) link
the lipsky stuff gets worse.
― bows don't kill people, arrows do (Jordan), Tuesday, 9 November 2010 18:06 (thirteen years ago) link
yeah, i set this aside due to cares earlier this summer, but the lipsky stuff was really, really, really grating.
― BIG MUFFIN (gbx), Tuesday, 9 November 2010 18:07 (thirteen years ago) link
(just finished this last night btw)
― bows don't kill people, arrows do (Jordan), Tuesday, 9 November 2010 18:08 (thirteen years ago) link
he's so bitter & jealous, both in '96 and now that he's aware that people are only reading his book for DFW, not for him.
― bows don't kill people, arrows do (Jordan), Tuesday, 9 November 2010 18:11 (thirteen years ago) link
couldn't even finish the lipsky book
― HOOS tremendo...steen ridically (BIG HOOS aka the steendriver), Tuesday, 9 November 2010 18:12 (thirteen years ago) link