Below is a link to one of my favorite essays by the late David Foster Wallace. If you haven't read it yet, I envy you getting to experience it for the first time now. It is extraordinarily smart and funny and heartbreaking and honest, much like DFW.Dave hung himself a year ago on September 12th. I wonder what he would have made of this mess the country is in right now? I miss his generous spirit and his humor nearly every day. God bless him.
http://www.harpers.org/media/pdf/dfw/HarpersMagazine-1996-01-0007859.pdf
7 comments:
Have downloaded and will read.
I'll have to read more about why he decided to kill himself. That just doesn't seem like a good alternative.
Ms. Moon,
You will enjoy it.
Sending love,
SB
Syd,
Dave was profoundly, and often suicidally, depressed for most of his life. He fought a valiant battle against hopelessness. The drug that was keeping him alive began to have awful side affects, so the docs took him off of it. He became hellishly depressed again, and when he went back on the medicine, it didn't work the same. It was ineffective.
yes, yes yes. he was such a huge loss for the literary world, and all his readers.
Dear Ms. Bastard- I have read all twenty-four pages of that essay and yes, it was wonderful. I loved so much about it- the Pat Conroy stuff was delicious, especially where he said that Conroy sighed and said, "I prostituted myself." Sort of sums up how I feel about Conroy anyway. He has something good enough to prostitute but damn! He did.
I've been on one cruise in my life. It was paid for by a company that Mr. Moon worked with. It was EXACTLY like that cruise. Only maybe the food wasn't as good and I don't know about the entertainment because I did not go to any shows. I just could not bring myself to do that.
I especially loved his description of the cabin steward. I remember having the exact same feelings about mine who had been some sort of professor in East Germany and was now cleaning my cabin every time I left it. HOW did she know? It creeped me out too.
So much about the cruise creeped me out. In fact, I now know there are two types of people in the world: The cruisers and the non-cruisers. And if a person is a self-admitted cruiser, I seriously doubt I can be friends with them.
I think Wallace summed up very well why this is true.
Thank-you for pointing me to that fine piece of writing and yes, I need to learn more about him and read more of his work.
Love...Ms. Moon
Maggie, my dear, I agree. Hope things are looking up for you. Thank you so much for reading me.
Love, SB.
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