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Books To Jump Up and Down Over
Being Wrong by Kathryn Schulz: Being wrong, as it turns out, isn't just the other variable in a binary opposition. Indeed, the relationship between our beliefs and the vast body of knowledge is one of humanity's big problems, but, at times, one of its great virtues. This thoughtful volume outlines numerous examples of human folly, from end-of-the-world prophets to ocular misperception, and makes a strong case for becoming more transparent about human fallibility, even when the results can be quite deadly. (Bat Segundo interview)
The Invisible Bridge by Julie Orrigner: This sweeping epic, which has been rightly identified in some corners as a "Holocaust page turner," puts to rest any and all rumors that the historical novel is dead. Orringer's great talent for balancing fine Romantic details, a vigorous synthesis of prewar Paris and Magyar strife, and Nazi brutality demonstrates a remarkable evolution from her previous short story collection, How to Breathe Underwater, and makes this a must read. (Bat Segundo interview)
If I Loved You, I Would Tell You This by Robin Black: Forget Wells Tower. Robin Black's marvelous short story collection, which has been needlessly ignored by The New York Times and The Washington Post, is very much on the level: far better than anything written by that lumbering Young Turk. These subtle stories have the maturity to avoid belabored metaphors and neat conclusions, revealing numerous nuances about the human condition in its careful use of understated language. (Bat Segundo interview)
Wallace, David Foster Archive
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James Wood on DFW
Posted on March 23, 2010 | 3 CommentsIt seemed strangely fitting to get punched by a hideous man in the solar plexus as I was on my way to see James Wood discuss David Foster Wallace’s Brief Interviews with Hideous Men at the 92nd Street Y on Monday night. The man was... -
Jonah Lehrer: A Malcolm Gladwell for the Mind
Posted on February 28, 2010 | 9 CommentsAs the terrible news of Andrew Koenig’s suicide and Michael Blosil leaping to his death, both after long depressive bouts, emerged over the weekend, the New York Times Sunday Magazine had aided and abetted Jonah Lehrer’s continued slide into unhelpful Gladwellian generalizations by publishing his... -
Remembering David Foster Wallace
Posted on September 15, 2008 | 52 CommentsChris Abani: DFW was a writer’s writer in the best possible sense. His poetic sensibility with language, his keen and astute wit, and his burning sense of the malleability of form was incredible. Words like luminous, original and a deeply personal and unique style have... -
David Foster Wallace: A Personal Tribute
Posted on September 14, 2008 | 9 CommentsIn 1997, I was given a book. A big book. A book backloaded with endnotes. It had been given to my sister1, who in turn shuttlecocked2 it over to me. It was intended to be borrowed. But it was never returned and can currently be... -
David Foster Wallace Dead
Posted on September 13, 2008 | 49 CommentsI’ve received terrible news from an anonymous source. David Foster Wallace, the talented writer of Infinite Jest, is dead of an apparent suicide. I have confirmed with multiple sources that this is indeed the case. The Claremont Police Department informed me that they answered a... -
DFW-Proust: The Literary Answer to WMD-Iraq?
Posted on August 29, 2007 | No CommentsThe Rake asks what the connection is, exactly, between David Foster Wallace and Proust — other than their respective propensities for writing long novels. url='http://www.edrants.com/dfw-proust-the-literary-answer-to-wmd-iraq/';size='small'; -
AUTHORS: Do You Have What It Takes?
Posted on May 24, 2007 | 3 CommentsIt’s the ultimate reality series, the ultimate game show and the ultimate half-hour of intriguing storylines. The Ultimate Author is an awesome television program packed with entertaining, engaging and interesting events. Each week, contestants go toe-to-toe in a writing competition that tests their ability to... -
DFW Rewritten Again
Posted on February 1, 2007 | 8 CommentsHere is the first paragraph of David Foster Wallace’s “Good People” rewritten: They were up, up being not down but up, at that park at the lake, by the edge of the lake really we mean it when we say that the park was situated... -
DFW Rewritten
Posted on January 31, 2007 | 11 CommentsHere is the first paragraph of David Foster Wallace’s “Good People” rewritten: Lane A. Dean, Jr. and his girlfriend sat at a picnic table. They’d gone to different high schools but attended the same junior college. Now it was springtime and they were near a... -
You’re Seriously Asking Me for My View on “The English Patient?”
Posted on January 7, 2007 | 8 CommentsA good number of Charlie Rose interviews are now available through Google Video. (They had previously been available for $1.00 per view, but Google has since added video ads, making them free, and helpfully demarcated these ads through blue dots on the timeline.) What this... -
Jest Fest ’06
Posted on November 11, 2006 | No CommentsThe Howling Fantods has word of Jest Fest ’06, an evening of DFW readings with such luminaries as Time‘s Lev Grossman, The Onion‘s Todd Hanson, Laura Miller, and bigtime DFW junkie John Krasinski (that dude who plays Jim from The Office, who you might recall... -
DFW Gets the VidLit Treatment
Posted on September 14, 2006 | No Commentsurl='http://www.edrants.com/dfw-gets-the-vidlit-treatment/';size='small'; -
DFW MySpace Hoax?
Posted on September 8, 2006 | No Comments“Dave Foster Wallace” has a MySpace page. I don’t know if this is legit or not. The “blurb” cited is pulled from this Dalkey Archive interview. The page does note, “FYI: This is for research purposes only.” The question is who’s researching: DFW or some... -
Is DFW Washed Up?
Posted on August 23, 2006 | 16 Comments[2009 UPDATE: This article was written by someone who greatly admired David Foster Wallace and hoped he would regain his footing as a writer. It was written before David Foster Wallace's suicide and without knowledge of the author's troubled emotional and mental state. (It is... -
DFW Alert!
Posted on August 19, 2006 | 3 CommentsTo be listened to later: David Foster Wallace and Scott Simon on NPR, talking about tennis superstar Roger Federer. Huh? So what gives, Davie Baby? You’ll talk to NPR about tennis, but you won’t talk with any literary interviewers other than John Freeman about your... -
Infinite Jest (A Decade Running)
Posted on August 11, 2006 | No CommentsThe Howling Fantods reports that the 10th anniversary edition of Infinite Jest will include a foreword by Dave Eggers. No news about whether it will contain anything else, but perhaps Michael Pietsch might find a way to convince DFW to write another novel. url='http://www.edrants.com/infinite-jest-a-decade-running/';size='small'; -
“Brief Interviews” Movie?
Posted on July 23, 2006 | No CommentsThe Howling Fantods speculates on the possible Brief Interviews with Hideous Men movie. John Krasinski, who plays Jim on The Office, is reportedly using his series hiatus to get the movie prepped. Krasinski is writing the script for a possible November filming date. url='http://www.edrants.com/brief-interviews-movie/';size='small'; -
DFW CSS
Posted on May 30, 2006 | 1 CommentYes, you too can add “Host”-style sidenotes to your blog, thanks to this nifty plug-in. But what of sidenotes within sidenotes? Come on, Arc 90. We want the real deal! (Results shown here.) (via Kottke) url='http://www.edrants.com/dfw-css/';size='small'; -
Roundup
Posted on March 9, 2006 | 6 CommentsAnother day, another Robert Birnbaum interview. This time: Uzodinma Iweala. Concerning the Jonathan Ames testicle controversy, it seems that the testicle is ahead of the shadow by a ratio of 5 to 1. Whether this will have any long-term impact on future perceptions of Jonathan... -
Or It Could Be That Nobody Real Likes a Whiner, No Matter How Talented
Posted on February 3, 2006 | No CommentsCould it be that DFW’s fussiness with public appearances is losing converts? Or at least causing the staunch support of DFW zealots to waver? Counterbalance has posted her conclusion of “DFW on the Installment Plan” and opines, “But then, somewhere, I lost my crush. His... -
Consider the Dust Jacket
Posted on January 31, 2006 | 1 CommentOver at Foreword, alternative covers to Consider the Lobster are being considered url='http://www.edrants.com/consider-the-dust-jacket/';size='small'; -
Infinite Writeups
Posted on January 21, 2006 | 6 CommentsAnother amusing DFW writeup — this one in installments. Part of me is wondering just what it is about DFW that causes us to write these lengthy reports. Does submerging one’s self in a lengthy novel cause us to expatiate at length? (via Agent Bond)... -
Operation DFW
Posted on January 17, 2006 | 2 CommentsMonday mid-afternoon. I was in Oakland, observing a blue minivan pocked with dents trying to negotiate the BART parking lot with a grinding flat tire. I reached Agent 99 by phone. Agent 99 reminded me that David Foster Wallace, author of Infinite Jest and a... -
Now If Some Grad Student Can Catalog His Footnotes
Posted on January 10, 2006 | 1 CommentDFW Bibliography (via Scott) url='http://www.edrants.com/now-if-some-grad-student-can-catalog-his-footnotes/';size='small'; -
Only Your Most Rooted Critics Need Apply
Posted on December 10, 2005 | No CommentsAt least one Consider the Lobster reviewer has gone outright insane. url='http://www.edrants.com/only-your-most-rooted-critics-need-apply/';size='small'; -
Primary Reason Why “Consider the Lobster (And Other Essays)” Might Be Worth Your While
Posted on December 7, 2005 | 2 CommentsOnly DFW would begin an essay with the sentence, “Did you know that probing the seamy underbelly of US lexicography reveals ideological strife and controversy and intrigue and nastiness and fervor on a near-Lewinskian scale?” This has been a review. url='http://www.edrants.com/primary-reason-why-consider-the-lobster-and-other-essays-might-be-worth-your-while/';size='small'; -
DFW/Moody
Posted on November 30, 2005 | 3 CommentsOn Monday night, I attended the David Foster Wallace/Rick Moody reading at the Herbst Theatre. But I do not offer a report here, predominantly because (a) I had essentially travailed from plane to apartment to evening entertainment in a remarkably short period of time as... -
A Supposedly Simple Pairup Not Likely To Happen Again
Posted on October 20, 2005 | 1 CommentAt the Lannan Archives, there’s an audio interview with David Foster Wallace interviewed by Dalkey’s John O’Brien. What’s crazy is that he interviews Richard Powers in the same sitting. I wonder how crazy things would have been if they got Vollmann to show up. url='http://www.edrants.com/a-supposedly-nervous-thing-im-not-likely-to-do-again/';size='small'; -
More Fun with Amazon
Posted on September 20, 2005 | No CommentsAmazon has recently instituted “text stats,” which measures a book by Fleish-Kincaid index (the higher you go, the more difficult it is to read), percentage of complex words and words per dollar. Now if this is the basis for why one should read, let’s see... -
Pero, Piense en Los Niños!
Posted on August 15, 2005 | No CommentsOur Rocky Mountain pal and colleague has the scoop on the campaign to divest Denver’s libraries of racy fotonovelas. After having removed 6,000 of these “tawdry” books, a full review of the libraries’ 2.5 million circulation is now being considered, leaving some wags to opine...