For ages I've been weirdly attracted to David Foster Wallace's work but a little hesitant to get near his literary work because something in the way he conducted himself while alive made me believe that his witty and humorous style would not be appealing to me. Until a couple of days ago when I rediscovered and dusted my platonic attraction to all things DFW and decided to give it another go.
I decided I would ease into his work by starting with This Is Water
. A commencement speech he gave in 2005 that was greatly praised and later turned into almost a sort of quote book. Every sentence in the book is written in a different page. and even though it can be annoying at times, it also gives you the power to slow down, soak it in and think about the effect is has in your life.It was something so simple that actually changed my take on life and education a couple of years ago. I guess you can say that it woke me up from the stereotypical "life-without-school-is-no-life" mindset and allowed me to see that education is about awareness and life's colours about how you choose to see them. There's something so tragically beautiful about this speech that keeps me coming back for more. Maybe it has to do with how his life ended and his struggle to stay alive but maybe it has to do with the fact that he is so great at teaching us how to live a fulfilling life that he obviously couldn't follow his own example. Whatever it is, it sure is a great was to dive into this literary genius' work.
. A commencement speech he gave in 2005 that was greatly praised and later turned into almost a sort of quote book. Every sentence in the book is written in a different page. and even though it can be annoying at times, it also gives you the power to slow down, soak it in and think about the effect is has in your life.It was something so simple that actually changed my take on life and education a couple of years ago. I guess you can say that it woke me up from the stereotypical "life-without-school-is-no-life" mindset and allowed me to see that education is about awareness and life's colours about how you choose to see them. There's something so tragically beautiful about this speech that keeps me coming back for more. Maybe it has to do with how his life ended and his struggle to stay alive but maybe it has to do with the fact that he is so great at teaching us how to live a fulfilling life that he obviously couldn't follow his own example. Whatever it is, it sure is a great was to dive into this literary genius' work.
Have you ever read some of David Foster Wallace's work? If so which was your favorite and why?
I'm planning on reading some of his work in this order:
- A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again: Essays and Arguments
(Which I started last week and been eating up like crazy)
- Consider the Lobster and Other Essays
- Brief Interviews with Hideous Men
- The Broom of the System: A Novel
- Oblivion: Stories
and finally
- Infinite Jest
Please share this with friends! I think it's something worth getting out and if you want to know more about the genius behind this speech please visit His site.
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