This kind of news infuriates and saddens me. The creators of art, especially the most innovative and sensitive, endure the most vile, vicious, toxic, lacerating attacks from those who are both ignorant and powerful (and there seems no dearth of these creatures in the literary world). If one is both innovative and sensitive, one desperately needs in addition the constitution of a Cape buffalo to survive the onslaughts.
David Foster Wallace wrote a wonderful book in mathematics, called "Everything and More: A Compact History of Infinity", a dense but highly entertaining trip through some deep thickets in analysis and sets. It's challenging but anyone with some math hunger will find it fascinating. I haven't read enough to have heard of "Infinite Jest" until now, but now I'll get it and read it. And I'll never stop reaching out to creators of art like Wallace, and trying to comfort and encourage them. Even if I don't always understand right away what they accomplish, I know they're trailblazing where some day I'd like to go. I just want them to survive long enough to enjoy their journeys, and see how eyes open and hearts leap up when people finally grasp their work. If I were in a pair of their shoes, such comfort and encouragement would be as welcome as desert rain. May David Foster Wallace be at rest, and at peace, and filled always with light. Sally Caves wrote: > OMG. !!! > > What Eric said about IJ. > > ----- Original Message ----- > *From:* Eric Scoles <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > *To:* [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> > *Sent:* Sunday, September 14, 2008 11:19 AM > *Subject:* Sad Weekend News: David Foster Wallace RIP > > > He apparently hung himself on Friday. > > LA Times: > > > http://www.latimes.com/news/obituaries/la-me-wallace14-2008sep14,0,246155.story > > Long-ish thread over at Metafilter, with many links (to Charlie > Rose interviews among other things), quotes and personal anecdotes: > > http://www.metafilter.com/74869/RIP-DFW > > I've probably had /Infinite Jest/ recommended to me more times > than any other single book. I suppose it's about time I actually > read it. > > The most amazing thing about him to me was how many people seemed > feel such a need to so fiercely denounce him as a literary fraud. > Watching interviews with him, he seemed to me to be the very > opposite. > > > -- > eric scoles ([EMAIL PROTECTED] <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]>) > > > > --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "R-SPEC: The Rochester Speculative Literature Association" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/r-spec?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
