{"id":1965,"date":"2023-05-31T01:54:26","date_gmt":"2023-05-31T01:54:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tomeri.org\/notes\/?p=1965"},"modified":"2024-05-07T13:53:09","modified_gmt":"2024-05-07T13:53:09","slug":"a-book-of-essays-by-david-foster-wallace","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tomeri.org\/notes\/2023\/05\/31\/a-book-of-essays-by-david-foster-wallace\/","title":{"rendered":"BG: A Book of Essays by David Foster Wallace"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em><mark style=\"background-color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)\" class=\"has-inline-color has-purple-color\">30 May 2023<\/mark><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The book is titled <em>A Supposedly Fun Thing I\u2019ll Never Do Again: Essays and Arguments, <\/em>1997; I read it with my book group. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Favorites are *&#8217;d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_84 counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-light-blue ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<div class=\"ez-toc-title-container\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title\" style=\"cursor:inherit\">Contents<\/p>\n<span class=\"ez-toc-title-toggle\"><a href=\"#\" class=\"ez-toc-pull-right ez-toc-btn ez-toc-btn-xs ez-toc-btn-default ez-toc-toggle\" aria-label=\"Toggle Table of Content\"><span class=\"ez-toc-js-icon-con\"><span class=\"\"><span class=\"eztoc-hide\" style=\"display:none;\">Toggle<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-icon-toggle-span\"><svg style=\"fill: #999;color:#999\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"list-377408\" width=\"20px\" height=\"20px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"none\"><path d=\"M6 6H4v2h2V6zm14 0H8v2h12V6zM4 11h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2zM4 16h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2z\" fill=\"currentColor\"><\/path><\/svg><svg style=\"fill: #999;color:#999\" class=\"arrow-unsorted-368013\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"10px\" height=\"10px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.2\" baseProfile=\"tiny\"><path d=\"M18.2 9.3l-6.2-6.3-6.2 6.3c-.2.2-.3.4-.3.7s.1.5.3.7c.2.2.4.3.7.3h11c.3 0 .5-.1.7-.3.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7zM5.8 14.7l6.2 6.3 6.2-6.3c.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7c-.2-.2-.4-.3-.7-.3h-11c-.3 0-.5.1-.7.3-.2.2-.3.5-.3.7s.1.5.3.7z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a><\/span><\/div>\n<nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 ' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/tomeri.org\/notes\/2023\/05\/31\/a-book-of-essays-by-david-foster-wallace\/#_Derivative_Sport_in_Tornado_Alley\" >* Derivative Sport in Tornado Alley &nbsp;<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-2\" href=\"https:\/\/tomeri.org\/notes\/2023\/05\/31\/a-book-of-essays-by-david-foster-wallace\/#E_Pluribus_Unum_Television_and_US_Fiction\" >E Pluribus Unum: Television and US Fiction<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-3\" href=\"https:\/\/tomeri.org\/notes\/2023\/05\/31\/a-book-of-essays-by-david-foster-wallace\/#_Getting_Away_from_Already_Being_Pretty_Much_Away_from_it_All\" >* Getting Away from Already Being Pretty Much Away from it All<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-4\" href=\"https:\/\/tomeri.org\/notes\/2023\/05\/31\/a-book-of-essays-by-david-foster-wallace\/#Greatly_Exaggerated\" >Greatly Exaggerated<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-5\" href=\"https:\/\/tomeri.org\/notes\/2023\/05\/31\/a-book-of-essays-by-david-foster-wallace\/#David_Lynch_Keeps_his_Head\" >David Lynch Keeps his Head<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-6\" href=\"https:\/\/tomeri.org\/notes\/2023\/05\/31\/a-book-of-essays-by-david-foster-wallace\/#Tennis_Players_Michael_Joyces%E2%80%A6\" >Tennis Player\u2019s Michael Joyces\u2026<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-7\" href=\"https:\/\/tomeri.org\/notes\/2023\/05\/31\/a-book-of-essays-by-david-foster-wallace\/#A_Supposedly_Fun_Thing_Ill_Never_Do_Again\" >A Supposedly Fun Thing I\u2019ll Never Do Again &nbsp;<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"_Derivative_Sport_in_Tornado_Alley\"><\/span>* <strong>Derivative Sport in Tornado Alley &nbsp;<\/strong><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Harpers<\/em>, 1990 \u2014  3<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A nice essay. A lot of good bits of description and nice turns of phrase. Discusses Foster\u2019s \u2018career\u2019 as a \u2018near-great\u2019 high school tennis player, something which he made interesting to me in spite of the topic. I thought the beginning was brilliant, making a connection between the midwestern landscape and geometry, which is then further pursued in tennis. Here\u2019s a sample from the beginning:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">College math evokes and catharts a Midwesterner&#8217;s sickness for home. I&#8217;d grown up inside vectors, lines and lines athwart lines, grids &#8211; and, on the scale of horizons, broad curving lines of geographic force, the weird topographical drain-swirl of a whole lot of ice-ironed land that sits and spins atop plates. The area behind and below these broad curves at the seam of land and sky I could plot by eye way before I came to know infinitesimals as easements, an integral as schema. Math at a hilly Eastern school was like waking up; it dismantled memory and put it in light. Calculus was, quite literally, child&#8217;s play.<\/p>\n<cite>\u2014David Foster Wallace, <em><strong>Derivative Sport in Tornado Alley<\/strong>,<\/em>  3<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<!--more-->\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"E_Pluribus_Unum_Television_and_US_Fiction\"><\/span><strong>E Pluribus Unum: Television and US Fiction <\/strong><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Harpers<\/em>, 1990 \u2014  21<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Didn\u2019t engage me. Not surprising given my tv illiteracy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"_Getting_Away_from_Already_Being_Pretty_Much_Away_from_it_All\"><\/span>* <strong>Getting Away from Already Being Pretty Much Away from it All<\/strong><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Harpers<\/em>, 1993 \u2014 page 83<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This is an account of a visit to the Illinois State Fair. It was my favorite essay, I think, though I thought \u2018Derivative Sport\u2019 was more elegantly written. This felt a bit long and overwhelming, but that is actually appropriate for its subject matter. As I am coming to recognize with Wallace, he excels at descriptions of people, places and events that are both apt and unusual, like this one:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Fairgrounds are a St. Vitus&#8217;s dance of blacktop footpaths, the axons and dendrites of mass spectation, connecting buildings and barns and corporate tents.<\/p>\n<cite>\u2014David Foster Wallace, <strong><strong>Getting Away from Already Being Pretty Much Away from it Al<\/strong><\/strong><em><strong><strong>l<\/strong><\/strong>,<\/em>  102<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The essay often feels a bit elitist \u2013 an ethnographer giving an account of the crude but robust vitality of midwesterners \u2013 but at least he sometimes acknowledged the elitism. He is also elf-deprecating in places, which was a nice counterbalance to the elitism, and there was one point where he showed genuine appreciation for something:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But clogging has now miscegenated with square dancing and honky-tonk boogie to become a kind of intricately synchronized, absolutely kick-ass country tap dance.<br>[\u2026]<br>The routines have some standard tap-dance moves \u2013 sweep, flare, chorus-line kicking. But it&#8217;s fast and sustained and choreographed down to the last wrist-flick. And square dancing&#8217;s genes can be seen in the upright, square-shouldered postures on the floor, a kind of florally enfolding tendency to the choreography, some of which features high-speed promenades. But it&#8217;s adrenaline-dancing, meth-paced and exhausting to watch because your own feet move; and it&#8217;s erotic in a way that makes MTV look lame.<\/p>\n<cite>\u2014David Foster Wallace, <strong><strong>Getting Away from Already Being Pretty Much Away from it Al<\/strong><\/strong><em><strong><strong>l<\/strong><\/strong>,<\/em>  123-124<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">He advances a theory \u2013 encapsulated in the title \u2013 that midwesterners, because they dwell in wide open spaces that are essentially factories, &#8216;get away&#8217; from things by coming to places like the fair where they can be in crowds. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Greatly_Exaggerated\"><\/span><strong>Greatly Exaggerated<\/strong><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Harvard Book Review,<\/em> 1992 &nbsp;\u2014 &nbsp;138<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A well-written and occasionally amusing book review of H. L. Hixs\u2019 critique of postmodern literary theory. Not being a fan of lit crit it didn\u2019t really engage me, but since he did do a good job of briefly describing the book and its key arguments, I\u2019ll at least give it a mild thumbs up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"David_Lynch_Keeps_his_Head\"><\/span><strong>David Lynch Keeps his Head<\/strong><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Premier<\/em>, 1995 \u2014 146<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Subject matter didn\u2019t engage me. Written in question\/answer form, which I also don\u2019t care for. But other members of the group, who are more into this milieu, liked it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Tennis_Players_Michael_Joyces%E2%80%A6\"><\/span><strong>Tennis Player\u2019s Michael Joyces\u2026 <\/strong><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Esquire<\/em>, 1995 \u2014 213<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I skipped this, not being into tennis. Other members of the group enjoyed this. .<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"A_Supposedly_Fun_Thing_Ill_Never_Do_Again\"><\/span><strong>A Supposedly Fun Thing I\u2019ll Never Do Again &nbsp;<\/strong><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Harpers<\/em>, 1995 \u2014 256 <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">An account of taking a cruise on a luxury liner. Not without interest, but marred by his unrelenting negative take on just about all aspects of it. Everyone seemed like a caricature, and alienated from just about everyone and everything.<\/p>\n<p>Views: 30<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>30 May 2023 The book is titled A Supposedly Fun Thing I\u2019ll Never Do Again: Essays and Arguments, 1997; I read it with my book group. Favorites are *&#8217;d * Derivative Sport in Tornado Alley &nbsp; Harpers, 1990 \u2014 3 A nice essay. A lot of good bits of description and nice turns of phrase. &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/tomeri.org\/notes\/2023\/05\/31\/a-book-of-essays-by-david-foster-wallace\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">BG: A Book of Essays by David Foster Wallace<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"activitypub_content_warning":"","activitypub_content_visibility":"","activitypub_max_image_attachments":4,"activitypub_interaction_policy_quote":"anyone","activitypub_status":"federate","footnotes":""},"categories":[41,39],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1965","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-essays","category-craft-of-writing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tomeri.org\/notes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1965","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tomeri.org\/notes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tomeri.org\/notes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tomeri.org\/notes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tomeri.org\/notes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1965"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/tomeri.org\/notes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1965\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3009,"href":"https:\/\/tomeri.org\/notes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1965\/revisions\/3009"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tomeri.org\/notes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1965"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tomeri.org\/notes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1965"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tomeri.org\/notes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1965"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}