David Foster Wallace on Making Choices

Shawn — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 16:50:38 +0000

I’m trekking along with the Infinite Summer group that has dedicated this summer of The Year Of The Depend Adult Undergarment (also known as Y.D.A.U. or 2009) to reading David Foster Wallace’s Infinite Jest. At over 1,000 pages and hundreds of characters, footnotes and plot-strands, it’s an intimidating doorstop tome, but a lot more fun than I ever hoped when I started: a recognizable Pynchon crazy-world of language games and coincidence, but eminently more friendly. (This is a good thing, since I have been reading diligently for three weeks, nearly two weeks ahead of the ‘Book Club’ schedule, but still find myself barely 40% through the book.) The personality and philosophical thrust of the the book seem much in line with what we know of the man, who died tragically by his own hand last year with another giant novel stuck in perpetual rewrite.

Wallace’s philosophical bent – he cares deeply about Choice and Distraction in an era with too much of both - is the source of running plots and discussions throughout IJ. This led me to seek out some of his other more casual writing, which in turn me brought me to this commencement address posted on Scribd. These are wise words, worth reflecting on in our media-saturated age.

(PS For those who are not in on Infinite Jest, 2009 is Y.D.A.U. because in the IJ-world, the US President has sold off calendar sponsorships to pay off the debt from a toxic waste disaster that destroyed four New England states, which are then expatriated to Canada. ‘Subsidized time’ pays off the lost tax revenue from those states. This is but a passing story in a book full of shaggy dogs. If that tickles you even a little, consider picking up a copy.)

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David Foster Wallace Kenyon Address

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David Foster Wallace on Making Choices