David Foster Wallace on Literature

Edited version of the ZDFmediatek interview with David Foster Wallace, 2003. This version offers David Foster Wallace's ideas, without repetitions, long pauses, interviewer's comments. Although some cuts may appear rough, there is no attempt at editorial bias or content manipulation. Mr. Wallace's archives (books in his library, notes, and writings) have been recently acquired by the Harry Ransom Center at the University of Texas Austin.

[@mrhairston1387]

david foster wallace is my favorite author and always will be. its so sad that hes gone. He left us the tools to be better people though. his interviews and books are getting me through the hardest parts of school right now. hes an inspiration

[@sneed8119]

Mr Hairston w

[@NiePieerdol]

@@sneed8119 Thanks for feedback mate

[@josh-rz3uq]

When you grow up you'll realize that in addition to being a shitty person overall, he was really just a poor man's Thomas Pynchon.

[@Patrick-od2bd]

I agree with David that reading books is a form of magic; the way an author can make you feel like you're inhabiting or wearing the characters skin so to speak in a fashion that seems so real and so true is a beautiful thing. Books are to be treasured.

[@informalliteraryexperiments]

Agreed.

[@bradleyhamilton3447]

I think it was Woody Guthrie who said that the job of folk music was to "comfort the disturbed and to disturb the comfortable," at least that's what I heard recently at a Slaid Cleaves show.

[@smenefeelibey]

Beautiful. What a wonderful man with a unique and vibrant sense of the world. Thanks, again, DFW

[@BurntPuke82]

The most gifted are usually the most tormented. RIP to one of the greatest minds we'll ever see.

[@hailtothemachine]

This man truly loved to read.

[@skiphoffenflaven8004]

Hanging out with people whom you know will never understand any literary/artistic reference you might use/offer is a hell. I find, as I grow older, that more and more make up that category.

[@batsky6061]

Having esoteric interests separates you from the average person. It seems to be a very gregarious person you have to remain somewhat dull in the mind. It almost sucks to have something you love like that because you want to talk about it with someone, but no one understands or cares.

[@CelsdergGaming]

Watching this video as an assignment from my English teacher. Interesting.

[@olawalelala3068]

"there's class stuff involved here that gets very tricky " if this isn't the truth

[@Hugo411]

Sadly, he's gone. However if anyone can publish from the AFTERLIFE, it is this guy. we have all heard of Life after Death, well i hope with him there is Write after Death.

[@DramaKaw]

Well said, my friend.

[@CelsdergGaming]

That was amazing.

[@IamTreebeardword]

Art is a constant pendulum, as long as people live it will never die.

[@SamuelDaram]

"To comfort the disturbed and to disturb the comforted." Great quote. Does anyone know who wrote it?

[@meladar]

Uh - I remember reading it on one of Melville's pages, Ishmael was on top of a crow's nest and riffing about something or another... although phrased slightly different than that..."To make comfortable the uncomfortable and to make uncomfortable the comforted" 10 years late or w/e, but I'm fairly certain he remembers that impression and misdiagnosed where it originated in his memory.

[@ryh5169]

@@meladar I can't find anything like that quote anywhere in the fulltext of Moby Dick: www.gutenberg.org/files/2701/2701-h/2701-h.htm -- I always believed the origin of the chiasmus phrase was by Finley Peter Dunne sometime in the late 19th century: en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Finley_Peter_Dunne -- "The job of the newspaper is to comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable."

[@livewithmeterandnomeasureb1679]

I just saw this somewhere. Bansky ripped it off I guess. As did Cesar Cruz. TWFM487•6 yr. ago Additional comment actions It's a variation of the well known phrase "Comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable". That phrase is often quoted in a religious context, but it was first used by the author Finley Dunne, in the 1890s, to refer to the duty of newspapers to the people. The first reference to "disturbed" rather than "comfortable" was in 1997, quoting Cesar A. Cruz. TL;DR: Banksy didn't invent this quote. (This is from reddit. )

[@frankbrown3951]

Woody Guthrie said “It’s a folk singer’s job to comfort disturbed people and to disturb comfortable people.” Maybe the author dfw is speaking about was quoting him…

[@sirjonestotherescue]

don delillo

[@indviduation]

Cesar A. Cruz “Art should comfort the disturbed and disturb the comfortable.”

[@Klimseven]

There are great books being released all the time.

[@X-AEA-12]

he speaks the truth.

[@prrrrecious]

@CastleRockFan that's a good point. Very good point.

[@SamuelDaram]

So great to have DFW talking here, about the importance of reading. These videos will keep the importance of DFW alive in an increasingly dumbed down society. And I say this as someone who lives in a country that gave the world Shakespeare and Dickens.

[@delfobaroni]

A prophet! And sadly, at this point, no one will ever know.

[@phaedruslive]

@CastleRockFan agreed. Sadly though we're dominated by the ego and theres a sort of internal stigma associated with reading outside (or acknowledging the legitimacy) of certain genre's.

[@voodooeconomix]

The pause button allows a viewer watching a dvd or blu ray of a movie, to do what he correctly says the reader can do with lierature, which is to stop, reflect. and then continue at the viewer's own pace.

[@PKAnon]

@voodooeconomix Thus breaking flow, which many (some might argue 'all') films rely on for pacing, immersion, emotion, and tension.

[@AdamSmith-cc2up]

Where can I find the full interview for this

[@chinneths1]

it is magic

[@smaller_cathedrals]

I would have loved to hear his comments on video games, games like "Red Dead Redemption 2" or "The Last of Us 2", or more experimental pieces like "The Stanley Parable". Would've been highly interesting. It's really a tragedy that we lost such a brilliant mind.

[@prrrrecious]

@ZachClooney This is something I've thought about. I'm from the USA , which has greatly "dumbed down" in my immediate perception. Can this actually be called a de-evolution or are we still evolving? I guess it seems ridiculous to think that literature evolves into zombies and vampires and such. Are we seeing a dying art world? Or are we dying with the past? I feel some crawling sense of danger when I look at literature today.

[@secbite4]

can anyone suggest where to start with DFW books? should i read infinite jest directly?

[@utente7707]

did you read it in these 9 years?

[@brightfox4647]

I used to read a lot and felt this way. But I can’t read anymore? And lost the touch of that feeling. Any suggestions? Thanks

[@benhall1741]

To me the love of reading is a spiritual force all its own.. If that force isn't drawing me to read just now, that's just fine. It always comes back around :)

[@informalliteraryexperiments]

Reading this post 3 years later has made me curious. If you don't mind sharing it on YT, what fiction have you been reading since then? I know it can be hard to find things you like to read. I tend to re-read my favourite books every six months, and somehow I always learn something new. Good books are multilayered and full of interesting ideas.

[@Splashover03]

@chicoriagrande Read The Girl With Curious Hair. If you can't get through that, you'll know DFW isn't for you. Infinite Jest is far far far more involved than "The Girl" but the set up and the punches are the same.

[@smithhedgehog]

@CastleRockFan I think its the other way around, often :-)

[@drahtseilakt]

@dodecachordon I think it's a misconception to believe that everyone has the potential for something extraordinary. It's a comforting thought, maybe, but it's just wrong. There are many people with some talent, but genius is something that seldomly occurs. If everyone could do extraordinary things, it wouldn't be extraordinary but ordinary. No, extraordinary things are made by extraordinary people with absurd amounts of talent.

[@feanor7080]

1:55

[@dodecachordon]

@emizeenie What is a genius? What makes a genius? What is its significance? I am often struck by how unconsciously people disconnect themselves from their sources of inspiration. Declaring the genius of another, it seems implied that the observer is not a genius themselves, that being such a _relative_ denomination concerning various categories of a specifically perceivable type of ability. We all have potential for something extraordinary. How do we realize this - our own, true, inner value?

[@spencergodfrey5913]

dodecachordal extispicium shut up dude

[@SamuelDaram]

@prrrrecious Your prose here, prrrrecious, seems too great to be a 'comment' on KZbin. I'm sure you will go on to write good books. Yes we are living through a "dying art world" because internet and other 'easy pleasures' are stealing the time from the masses.

[@clavin62]

And who do you think understands life?

[@areujokingme]

So go watch T.V.

[@benhall1741]

:)

[@jasonlin00]

@dodecachordon wtf is wrong with you? it is just an acknowledgement, neither did he say that he himself wasn't a genius nor was he trying to say anything about himself.