David Foster Wallace on Writing Style

Most people think of David Foster Wallace's writing style as the maximalist infernal prose we see in Infinite Jest and some of his most famous essays. But, when you read Wallace's bibliography you see he had a massive stylistic range! In today's video, we will hear Wallace talk about style, and then I'll discuss his stylistic evolution!
Discover over 100 of David Foster Wallace's favorite books and the three books he wrote with by his side below
writeconscious.ck.page/8956ce...

[@williambartholmey5946]

Interesting that he said he's more interested in pace than style, and that you later said he hated the published version of Broom, because I think the main reason I found Broom much more consistently enjoyable than Jest is that Broom has better pace.

[@flame85246]

I live in Amherst rn and I got to interview one of his (now retired) professors, a man named Dale Peterson. He told me that Amherst College was 1) really happy to have him playing tennis at their school and 2) really pissed when he quit in his junior year. As a side note, I even got to see Wallace’s undergraduate manuscript of bro of the system!

[@cherrydrop7025]

So cool!!! Please share more!!!

[@flame85246]

@@cherrydrop7025would love too, but I only met with him once, and it was a few years ago. He confirmed that a lot of the stuff that Wallace was going through (the alcoholism for one) were true. I have some recordings somewhere an old iPhone from the interview I did with him. No clue where they are now.

[@tzirufim]

Yes, please describe your experience. I would love to hear more about this.

[@chairmanmeow958]

Thank you for all this awesome content, i saw your other video in Wallace where you gave a link to the three must haves for writers (Usage guide, Thesaurus, Dictionary). I already had the Writers Thesaurus and next I want to get the American Heritage Dictionary. I do have the Oxford Guide to Usage and Style by Bryan Garner which is an abridged version of the larger volume of usage and style that you referenced. I am going to read through the abridged version first (highly recommend for anyone with little to no experience with usage and style guides) since it is much shorter with a lot of the important information included. This is the best and one of the very few remaining true literary channels! Thanks for all that you do for us Ian (also a member of your Substack which I love).

[@solace6861]

Dropping fire lately!!

[@loudbill]

I’m by no means a literary buff or anything, music has been more my focus. So, my analysis of books is of quite novice capabilities. I really enjoy the way DFW describes faces, and facial expressions, especially in the Oblivion stories. His style doesn’t just create imagery, it’s animated and fully formed. It’s been a lot of fun digging into his works, it’s made me fall in love with reading again (I’m reading other authors as well, but still).

[@jtrealfunny]

Henry James has always been my master of style.

[@adampearson1541]

From which books? I’ve heard his style changed a lot during the course of his lifetime.

[@jtrealfunny]

The Ambassadors is one that stays with me. The characters are so admirable and the tone is so balanced and positive in a way that doesn't make sense anymore. That and Candide are the two older books that really resonate for me right now.@@adampearson1541

[@poetsgarden1]

the books look pretty cool...the salt lamps a nice touch. "Text revenge" great phrase...

[@ShawnMorey-sx7wm]

Verbiage, in language, is context. Pace becomes the reader's problem. Why would a writer worry, about the reader, with his/her own thoughts?

[@ChandlerBooks]

Wallace said he hated Broom? I remember D.T. Max saying Wallace thought Broom could have been written by a smart seventeen year old. Where did he say he hated it? In the biography?

[@EntertheGam3]

Hey Ian, I've recently found your page and it's been like finding a goldmine of everything I love most. McCarthy, Wallace, Jung, Etc. I joined your Substack. are you still running the book club? I'd like to find a place where we can all converse.

[@WriteConscious]

I am currently not running the book club! I've tried like five times and I can never hold the schedule. I'm hoping to go full-time with this channel in 2024 and then I'll be able to maintain it. But, with working 50 hours a week, having a family, writing, reading, working out, spending time in nature, random emergencies/events, and then all the stuff I do with the channel I'm too sporadic!

[@andrewschrater2004]

I love your content. Keep up the great work. As a writer, how many pages from a book do you try to read in a day? Or do you have a weekly reading list or something similar?

[@WriteConscious]

I read a couple hours a day. I usually am juggling 4-10 books at once. Plus all the secondary source article I read on authors for this channel. However, I always have a primary author focus. For instance, I am getting through DFW's bibliography in less than three months with this method. I read 50 pages of one of his novels (IJ, Broom, or the Pale King) a day and also one of his stories/essays a day. So, even if I missed 14 days or so of that schedule I'd finish everything in three months. My writing also adapts to who I'm reading. Right now I'm writing a lot more maximalist stuff because I'm reading Wallace so much. After Wallace I will blow through Pynchon in three months and then pick someone else!

[@WriteConscious]

Already read his whole bibliography. But rereading to make content for this channel. Hard to do videos if the books aren't fresh in my mind.

[@FrancisGo.]

I respect what Wallace was trying to do with pacing, but I have a bit of an insight I brought back with me from weed-space: Always leave room for the breath of life.

[@TheGoodMD]

DFW challenged me to be more human. Given my line of work I have no choice but to write and communicate in a minimalist style. The more poetic your prose, the more likely you are to be misunderstood- or make others feel stupid, making you an ineffective communicator. Being a misunderstood intellectual is overrated. I’d rather understand others- you’ll have a richer life that way. When I started writing I was a romantic. I thought the reason nobody read classics is because they forgot they existed. If only a modern writer would create something poetic and good! Turns out the classics are just boring as shit. Unless you’re a nerd. Most people aren’t. Even the people I dislike want to be loved, want to be heard- in that way, we are fundamentally the same and DFW helped me see that.

[@Karmazinov22]

Awesome content, as usual, and you know, I hate to be a sulky bitch or whatever, and but so, I've never been or have thought of myself as being politically active or engaged, but since Oct 7 I've absorbed a huge stack of info and it's blatantly clear to anyone who objective does this, that it is not a 'war' between Israel and Palestine. Palestine has been getting royally scroooooodd for decades now, with the backing and wholesale financing, support etc of US govt, military, media, and even the populace, who are so misinformed, and just bolster the disgraceful ongoing pounding and genocide of a people by, among other things uncritically parroting newspeak discourse. When you say the 'war' between Israel and Palestine, this is a classic example. It's not a "war" it's a brutal invasion, occupation and destruction.

[@Azazello321]

I'm sorry? Did I just hear you say Bret Easton Ellis was "minimalist"??? American Psycho is "minimalist"?

[@WriteConscious]

Yes, Less than Zero is a minimalist novel. It was being published at the same time as Broom was for Wallace, and that's when Wallace and him started beefing. One could also say in terms of how the characters relate to the world "American Psycho" is also minimalist.