David Foster Wallace on Thomas Pynchon

How did Thomas Pynchon influence David Foster Wallace? Well, today, we will hear from a reluctant Wallace discuss Pynchon. I will then apply Harold Bloom's theory of "The Anxiety of Influence" to Wallace and his treatment of Pynchon. The rest of the video will be dedicated to showing how Wallace's early short stories, Infinite Jest and The Broom of the System, display different post-modern elements stemming from Pynchon's influence. Some of these influences are the relationship of language to paranoia, multi-voice narratives, and a ton of other cool stuff!
Discover over 400 of David Foster Wallace's favorite books and the three books he wrote with by his side below
writeconscious.ck.page/8956ce...

[@bathcat3759]

I once bought a copy of The Crying of Lot 49 at a bookstore and the owner called me a coward for not buying Gravity’s Rainbow lol

[@nomecognome8737]

well he was right but that makes two of us

[@henrikibsen6258]

I've been making my way through Gravity's Rainbow since before my daughter was born. She turns seven this year.

[@devil_pls]

Holy, thats what I call determination.

[@sdemosi]

I can recommend Finnegan's Wake for your next book. You will be reading it while minding your grandkids.

[@henrikibsen6258]

@sdemosi LOL. Finnegan's Wake is readable to me, so I think Pynchon's just not for me. I got bored at around Tchitcherine, Germany, and the schwartzcommando-apart from the pieing from the balloon, which was A++.

[@lon9047]

That’s me with Infinite Jest

[@ubiktd4064]

The trick with Pynchon books is they aren't linear. They're kind of like layered puzzles that are broken down over time.... a long time.

[@KalleVilenius]

The other day, after learning of John Barth's death (RIP) I ended up going down a path that led me to reading a letter Thomas Pynchon had sent to Donald Bartholme, offering an apology for missing a meet-up with some PoMo writers. In that letter he said "But thank you for asking me -- since I'm feeling more and more these days like a one-shot flash-in-the-pan amateur, it is at least a pleasant fantasy for me to think about mingling with you professional folks". This letter was sent in 1983, a decade after Gravity's Rainbow was published. Just felt that was intriguing, how someone like that, with such work under their belt, could still feel that imposter syndrome. Something Pynchon and Wallace had in common rather than something that differentiates them, I guess. Wallace was a much more public figure so his struggles with this were better known than Pynchon's. ... ... ZOOM BACK CAMERA!

[@johnradovich8809]

Saw Magnus Carlson say he feels like an imposter at times. Greatness in never vain.

[@levilivengood4522]

Pynchon's interesting especially in his later novels because he pivots so strongly toward family after GR, and I get the sense he critiques American leftism for abandoning the family (and maybe religion?) to some degree. Mason & Dixon really would be the text to look at for that. Lots of people hate Vineland but it also does some interesting things in that regard, looking at how American leftists shoot themselves in the foot over and over again

[@ypaisley]

I would LOVE more Pynchon videos. I enjoy your perspective, and he is my favorite author, bar none, no “anxiety” about it at all. ;)

[@johng4609]

Excellent intelligent mention of Jodorowsky's The Holy Mountain at 19:00

[@devil_pls]

I think this has been one of my favorite videos by you so far

[@locochingadero]

There is a passage in Pynchon's V where a secret message is decoded by a military analyst. The content of the message ended up being a weird translation of a passage of Wittgenstein's . I remember reading it for the first time and thinking 'who in the hell is going to get this reference!? Who is this book for?' Needless to say, it made me a devotee of Pynchon. I can only assume DFW had a similar experience. The more impressive part for me was that Wittgenstein was not a cultural figure nor particularly famous when V was written. However, he did visit Cornell before his death. I would love to ask Pynchon if he knew of Wittgenstein from that visit.

[@carrion-vj1yz]

The Jodorowsky reference made me smile.

[@WriteConscious]

real life awaits us

[@AganaktismenhSalonik]

@@WriteConscious nice

[@mikelpelaez]

The description of the novel you're writing reminds me of a contemporary Spanish novel called "Malaventura" by Fernando Navarro (Which I have to read), which is described as a combination of Lorca's poetry (often described as "the wonderous real", and in a similar vein of magical realism, the difference mainly being that magical realism actually happens in the world of the novel but the wonderous real doesn't) and Corman Mcarthy

[@tashinga8479]

Please do a video on Harold Bloom's "Genius: A Mosaic of One Hundred Exemplary Creative Minds"

[@TheTrueRandomGamer]

I don't even care for Pynchon but I still wish Wallace was more like him.

[@phillipanthony2402]

huh?

[@TheTrueRandomGamer]

@@phillipanthony2402 I'm saying I personally don't like Pynchon even if he's a good writer. And that even someone like me wishes Wallace was more like him. Sorry if that was confusing.

[@shanefelle9385]

Where is the 400 books list please

[@WriteConscious]

Description

[@santiagomongef]

Hey! I’d like to take a look at the influence list

[@WriteConscious]

writeconscious.ck.page/8956ce90fc

[@AJPzaworld]

I hate how Pynchon’s name is pronounced. “Pie-ken” bros RISE UP! Oh, and good analysis, Ian, but RISE UP.

[@WriteConscious]

Lol, everyone is always complaining about my pronunciations of last names, but if I came out swinging as the new Pie-Kin content creator people would lose their shit 🤣

[@pseudoplotinus]

I feel like the equation of Wallace and Delillo is stronger than the Wallace-Pynchon one.

[@WriteConscious]

Both will be explored in time. I got thousands of videos on all three in my Svadhishthana ready to be delivered to you via my Vishuddha. PEACE

[@DWS205]

DFW ripoffed both in equal measure.

[@pseudoplotinus]

@@DWS205 I think he stood on their shoulders, although some would say he spiritually succeeded them, and others what you said. but it's whatever, I ain't gonna argue about a bunch of old white guys, one of which is dead now

[@williambartholmey5946]

Please do DeLillo in the near future..

[@jackson633]

Thomas Pinecone, author of Amazing Dick's Inn

[@DWS205]

‘Cormac is deeper than Faulkner’? News to me lol

[@itsallgoodman4108]

Is that Wallace of Curtis Yarvin in the fingernail?

[@Postmailer]

Why did Bloom dislike Infinite Jest? “Can’t think, Can’t write”

[@Postmailer]

I’m going on Love is Blind to promote my literature KZbin channel Subscribe

[@WriteConscious]

Hahaha

[@keomgranger695]

Read Against the Day.

[@user-th3ll8rl7i]

Thomas Pynchon is kinda like existentilism. Its something that "intellectuals" will name drop, but in reality, no one really no what they mean.

[@AleksandarBloom]

just you brah.

[@user-th3ll8rl7i]

Just me what? Please explain.

[@DWS205]

Broom is like quasi-plagiarism of Crying of lot 49.

[@DWS205]

He was 20 years behind the ‘postmodern’ movement he wanted to be a part of…..so he made him self into a composite ripoff artist of most of them.

[@JeffRebornNow]

WC, I honestly don't think Bloom's theory in "The Anxiety of Influence" applies to women authors. Women in general do not -- and can not -- suffer from castration anxiety. If that anxiety is, in deed, the psychological underpinning of Bloom's theory, then you need not discuss it in relation to women authors. If you do, then I'll take what you're saying as perfectly meaningless.

[@WriteConscious]

Yes, but you also need to remember the anima/animus. If women go deep enough in their soul they will encounter similar things. But, for the common woman it has no meaninig.

[@sweetviolents29]

Any writers down here in commentland have a literary grandpa you get compared to? I used to get feedback in workshops like “this is just Vonnegut” from the side-eye MFA types lol

[@TheTrueRandomGamer]

How awful to be compared with an American great. MFAs are poison.

[@KalleVilenius]

First piece of writing I ever turned in at a writing workshop the teacher compared to the style of Volter Kilpi, a Finnish writer from the turn of the previous century. That was very flattering because I am consistently in awe of Kilpi's beautiful prose. One of the most encouraging experiences I've had, honestly. I wish more contemporary writers would at least try to emulate the beauty of language we had with writers from that era.

[@Bolgini]

One of my dad’s friends said “You write long sentences like the Russians.” One of the people in my writing group said I echo Faulkner and Cormac McCarthy.