David Foster Wallace - Conversation (San Francisco, 2004)
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 18 ม.ค. 2014
- David Kipen interviews David Foster Wallace in San Francisco for City Arts & Lectures in 2004 - audio only.
Taken from here:
www.scpr.org/programs/madelein...
For more Wallace:
www.thehowlingfantods.com/dfw
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fantastic interviewer, jesus
right? when DFW does that whole "i dunno, how would you answer that question?" gag, dude immediately fires back a good answer to his own question. Really amusing to listen to
yeah, he was great, especially compared to the other interviewers.
Took the words right out of my mouth. Best I've ever heard, other than the immortal Silverblatt, of course.
Chris lydon was good once he got passed the whole "why was the book so long?"
TRIBAL BY NATURE , his parents were atheists. He was not raised in any religious faith group.
I actually listened to DFW before I read him and his writing voice to me is 100% his "real" voice in my head, and I love it. His writing tone is so consistent that it's really easy to do that. I can't think of any other author I can really "hear" in their work like that.
Try Charles Bukowski
So true.. I would say who comes to immediate mind is -Bukowski. Theres a thread of honesty and caution (with delivery) that is with the words spoken by masters of SELF .. critical personal opinion... an embrace of relative experience which is exudes with ease by thought, and is delivered through a variably thin barrier caution... some are more, or less careful about how they are perceived aren't they? At least they have a point of view that is. How treasurable for the work to translate 1 to 1 by way of vocal delivery and written word
Alan Watts' voice always protrubes the page when I read him. Though his writings that I've read are mostly based on his talks.
@@rivv4902 wow, I was just going to comment about Alan Watts. The first time I read him it was a Norwegian translation of The Way of Zen (just because that was what the book store had) and while I got through it, it was strange to read a translation, knowing his voice and cadence so well.
I agree!
Outside of his IJ interview with Michael Silverblatt this is my favourite interview, he’s just so comfortable, the audience get the tone and the humour, the interviewer is so cordial and knows how to progress the dialogue with ease. Having DFW be not only the writer he was but also the orator he was is such an immense gift to us.
In all these interviews, he cones across as the nicest, most genuine person.
Turning off after the first three questions are just awful. Such a waste of one's time with genius.
Which is sad considering that he ended up being an emotionally abusive wife beater too.
@@majestycrush I just looked it up. Ouch. He was a very disturbed and very disturbing individual, it seems. Not somebody one wants to associate with under any circumstance. There was, obviously, no genius there, only madness.
@@majestycrush ???? what is the evidence for your view of DFW.
@@schmetterling4477 Genius too. I won't defend the wife-beating, the stalking, or the predatory nature of some of his alleged relationships; those are all dreadful things. I do believe he was an incredibly gifted writer though, and I still like listening to his interviews and reading his works.
Love how articulate he is. While he meanders quite a bit, he always has just the right word for what he's trying to express. RIP. :(
Guy like this shoulda been a writer.
I find him to be inarticulate. I think he feels that way about himself too --- all the time he reveals that he's making stuff up in response to questions.
That is the best interviewer I have ever heard, and I listen to interviews all day.
care to share any other great interviews?
@@tableo.plenty7317 th-cam.com/video/6Tm4uFLF9eI/w-d-xo.html
Some of the worst interviewers i've heard. still a great interview
Every question is posed to him as "this" or "that," and he always replies in the center.
Good observation. He middles everything. He's articulate and smart, but the closest he comes to offering a take is to state one and then contradict it with "it's weird .." This kind of uncertainty is a more accurate way of viewing the world but it also paves the way to depression and perceived pointlessness.
@@ocan1033 I'm quite concerned by the contents of this comment, the depression part - do you still remember what you meant? ;)
@@odolany Yeah I do, but your wink-emoji at the end makes me think you understood the context too.
@@ocan1033 i know some of the context, and didn't want to ridicule it.
a wink was rather for this youtubey "smooth conversation with a one-year break in the middle" motive.
in the meantime... my concern diminished...
odolany Thank you, then. Stuck in the middle with TH-cam, as Bob opined. It’s all a simulation anyway. Had to give it another year to confirm that one.
Too brilliant for this screwed up world. I heard an interview with his sister Amy not long after his death and I was moved to tears when she spoke of how brave he was facing his depression. Rest in everlasting peace, David.
I hope you also looked at his stalking and domestic abuse record. He was clearly out of control.
@@schmetterling4477 I'm sorry to learn about this. I only know him from his "good side" (which was one of despair)
@@schmetterling4477 please let me know about this alleged side of DFW.
@@SuperGuanine You can do your own internet search, can't you? It's up to you to glorify the man after you learn the truth about him, of course. Nobody can stop you from such religious practices.
@@schmetterling4477 he wasn’t perfect like you
What a wonderful agile mind and adorable sense of humor. I wish I had gotten a chance to meet him
Sometimes it's really sad to meet or know people who die early and wonder if you could have helped them more in some way.
jeez this was kind of surreal, i was that lonely kid dfw. I first read IJ when i was 16 and it resonated with me unlike anything else i've ever experienced
“Some kind of not-as-good Joycian tumble”
I just finished "Consider the Lobster", it was the first book of his that I have read and I was overwhelmed by the guy. Next, I'll read "In Infinite Jest" and I mourn his passing.
Infinite Jest is pretty depressing but ultimately super complex, in order ro understand it you should probably read Aaron Schwartzes explanation after finishing it.
Def his lobster is wayyyy more interesting and fulfilling that Jordan Peterson's. I own IJ and read its first 200 pages. So? Did you? Did you read it? All of it? Got a review?
@@tarico4436 are you seriously trying to compare DFW to Jordan Peterson? You’re a walking stereotype
No joke. I've read IJ 13 times. After the first go I reread it twice in a row. then once a year for a decade or so. It somehow gets better and better!
Thanks a lot for uploading this!
Thank you for sharing this!
Thanks very much for this upload!
Thanks for the upload! I've never heard this one before. Never tire of listening to him.
I am guessing what people appreciated about him was that he was this smart guy with a child like fresh view of things, that he hadn't lost that core unlike many of us.
Thanks for uploading! Very enjoyable.
I wish he was still alive and writing
Same here.
N0ne 0f us Iives f0rever!
He was a great writer but his actions were very immoral. It's the same thing as Roman Polanski great director but a despicable human.
great interviewer
Always amazed at DFW's ability to give fascinating answers to uninteresting questions
Thank you for uploading this - by far my favorite author, and always appreciate getting to hear more of his thoughts and perspective.
I always laughed with him regarding the sentence length and had nothing but envy of him for being able to be the intellect the hat pulled off what I/some of us always wanted to do but couldn't.
Thanks for sharing.
Thanks for uploading. Haven't heard this talk before, either. There's something reminiscent of David Foster Wallace's writing about hearing new words from him years after his death.
new to me, that is
Tamales with corn
Thank you for the upload...
"I don't know that there is anything wrong with self-consciousness, the trick with students is to make them realize that the consciousness they are conscious of is simultaneously less and more interesting than they think it is"
That is really a lovely thought.
I tried IJ three or four times, got up to about page 200. Then I read his nonfiction for a couple of years and returned to Infinite Jest. To date I’ve read it four times and am sure I’ll read it a few more times. I’ve read pretty much all of his work now, except for the literary criticism and mathematical stuff, which I can’t understand.
Why are you telling us that you are a masochist? :-)
I’ve tried it twice and currently on my third. I have to finish it this time. I love his nonfiction and his interviews.
These are the best questions ive ever heard an author asked.
He died eight years ago today. RIP to Mr. Wallace.
jigsaw10181 Memory sticks!
@@danielmancillas5672 And it keep sticking
@@Sinmyfountain like glue
DFW in the thumbnail looks like he's about to spit out Illmatic
He looks like a tool.
this is an underrated comment lol
@@4thgradedropout980 nah.
we love you David!
Thank you so much for posting this :-)
Though just as easily and justifiably valid to Not say this: that the loss of David Foster Wallace, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Anthony Bourdain, Robin Williams in such a terribly short time ... has me feeling that a species of sensitive person who "sang the body electric", of late; wherein our toxic, louder world drowns the poet and the song.
... To struggle, to go on with an irremediable, dolorous solitude crowding one's heart from the fight. How to keep the shades in check? How to accept the giant good that has occurred in spite of the lurking void? What tool or trick in the mind would have one break the glass, extract the ax, and break out of the burning house? What miscommunication with the poet have we failed to express? Perhaps this chosen exit is the brief, utterly final balancing weight against the bright, burning light of engagement and forceful embrace of some of the gifted ones.
As a writer I have to say...that last sentence was maybe the most eloquent explanation of suicide I've heard.
@@atwilliams8 thank you.
Peter, wow. Beautiful. Devastating.
Walter Whitman?
@@tahsina.c Yes! . I tip my hat to the sage innovator.
I am so glad I was forced to use a typewriter early in life. I really enjoy using it.
I've recently become a fan of D.F.W. by way of comparison in how I enjoy writing. A friend of mine that is into advant-guard artistic expression commented "you should read D.F.W.". I will never view writing through the same lens again!
I've recently been introduced to him through a comment made by Justin Roiland. I've been very inspired and I just ordered "infinite jest"; I can't wait to read it.
Dirk Plankchest C
the breathless run on(with grammar) is employed experimentally throughout the entirety of Baron Wenckheims Homecoming, and I enjoyed every last letter of the novel. Take a peek for yourself sometime, you might just enjoy it.
😂
Such a brilliant bloke.
I loved this
i love this dude
love it!❤️👍🏼
The end bit where he mentioned that there was no men of stature comparable to Joyce or Kafka in our time was heartbreaking. He was heading to being that man, and he would still be him today.
But he's Right on!(Quentin Tarantino '-"Theres Nobody walking around Like Actors..Re;Lee Marvin.. Charles Bronson.'Now'!&He Adds That Charlise Theron'_"Would Be As Close to that.")&I get it its just a fact.(Evolution '!?)😅😊
Almost 20 years ago. Time, the revelator.
This interview was the reason downloaded an audio speed changer. I can't stand the sped up pace of a man who chose his words so carefully.
There is also a built in speed change option in the settings of youtube videos.
You are missed.
And now he's one of the immortal writers we celebrate. :'-(
DFW has got a luvly soft voice/accent.
Excellent discussion here; Wallace's self-deprecating demeanor and sense of humor is very endearing.
The audio track comes across as slightly accelerated, giving his and the interviewer's voices a somewhat not normal higher pitch.
I listened to an interview @ th-cam.com/video/qm_u3YoL8s8/w-d-xo.html, and I thought I caught a vocal glitch, stutter, or something when DFW was speaking. Interesting. Thanks for sharing?
He graduated #1 in his class at Amherst College as a philosophy major.
Oh God that part at the end about vicious political journalism. The more and more I learn about Wallace the more I realize that he would have been living in an absolute nightmare were he still alive. Everything he worried about JUST GOT WORSE.
What got worse? Political journalism? There is almost no political journalism in the US. There is only infotainment and that hasn't changed in decades.
@@cinci-rp7bw the guy was clinically depressed and went off his meds. Don't go claiming he was just some self obsessed egomaniac who loved and hated himself so much he ended himself.
I believe it!
The most profound writer and speaker I have come across in my 50+ years. His pain is so obvious to us all now. Very sad but that sadness needed to happen for us all for some reason I guess.
Sadness is a response to an external event. He isn't sad. He is depressed. Depression is an internal state that is almost entirely independent of external influences. Not sure why you think that he is a profound writer, either. His English prose is that of a hack. There is no beauty in it, he merely tries his hardest to avoid all the sentences that others have written before him. Not sure why he had to rip off a Monte Python sketch, though. Now that is just sad.
@@schmetterling4477 Keep wasting time please.
@@Bilbus7 It got your mind going, even though it only moved a tenth of an inch. It was totally worth it. With a few more posts and plenty of WD-40, even your mind will, one day, be flexible. :-)
@@schmetterling4477 Killer Kommentar! sehr gut!
@@schmetterling4477Are you? Forget it.
38:04 is poignant and relatable,. The convo preceding it is interesting for the discussion of style in films or writing and whether it is possible to employ a large amount of it without crowding out the emotional aspects. The interviewer then notes that David seems to focus on the emotional resonance of sadness as opposed to the other emotions and presses him for some insight, to which David acknowledges his outlook might be a bit distorted.
Poor soul, he'll be missed.
my god, DFW is a genius, no doubt. 4 minutes in and i'm floored. I have a dissertation prospectus to be writing but this is just sucking me in.
Why do you want to spend your time on a depressed, over-aged teenage nerd, though? Why not read some authors with actual humanity?
@@schmetterling4477 wow. nice adjectival phrasing. I'm interested in how you came to these conclusions about DFW. Care to share?
@@chesscomposer_ I read the first three lines of Infinity Jest, or so, then I threw up and that was pretty much the entirety of my infatuation with David Foster Wallace. Listening to his interviews made it only worse.
@@schmetterling4477 you didn't really say anything substantive. but i guess sometimes we just don't like stuff. what authors do you like?
@@chesscomposer_ Vomiting after reading is quite substantive in my books. It doesn't happen all that often.
14:06 does it for me. What a pity he didn't live on to help lend clarity these days. Still...
This guy really shouldn't have left...
+Simon Reichel Not according to him. You know?
I have a PhD. I read Infinite Jest and then posted my thoughts.
@@ShanOakley where can I read them?
I am by no means a genius or an intellectual like DFW but I totally get him, or maybe he gets me! I would love to have been friends with him and been able to just hang out on the porch late at night talking about cool and deep stuff.
The Dude didn't get anybody, not even himself. And why do you want to be friends with an abusive person, famous or not?
💙
There's some very subtle banter going on here. The interviewer and DFW are on the same page.
Mi amor
reading infinite jest helped me get through one of the worst depressive episodes i've ever had
The book is very comforting for some reason
Bad prose helps against depression. Who knew?
@@schmetterling4477 did you read the book?
@@breh9243 I read enough to know that it's some of the worst English prose ever written. You will excuse that I don't waste my time on a depressed person's version of "It was a dark and stormy night...".
@@schmetterling4477 what titles have you read?
The guy with the 'big first novel draft' who asks the editing question. I wonder how he got on?
The part about sitting in a quiet room and concentrating on something for a long time made me think of myself reading IJ, which is ironic because IJ is about entertainment and addiction to such, and commenting on media-saturation and distraction.
Another thing: the very fact that a book about entertainment requires such a long attention span to read and process is clever, and I hope intentional.
The "looking forward to my 50's" comment was made in Infinite Jest. Irony... "Does that make any sense?"
there WILL be a comma in-between two independent clauses
pensando en ti en este dia de los muertos maestro - saludos y qepd
He was "probably looking forward to his fifties". Sad to hear now. O heck, he'll age well anyway.
Not to mention the "100th anniversary of YOUR death" part.
The Heaviness The Heaviness
25:08 - sounds like a spoiler alert moment.. when can we start listening again?
I want to know who asked the last three questions. Did they sign up together?
Who is the interviewer? Anyone know? Thank you I want read his work
Need more resources in india too
One thing for sure, although he left us earlier than would seem appropriate, by no means did he not leave us without sufficient mental chewing gum to ponder and consider. As painfully and comically self-aware as DFW was, his burden of high intelligence and alienation meant the escape of literature he relished and offered as a writer only was in the final sense, one more task that must have exhausted his spirit. Thinking about one’s own thinking finally can lead us into a dervish dance first of fascination and finally, world weariness. We all perhaps find ourselves immersed in music, literature, and different forms of media perhaps as an antidote to boredom or loneliness, but ultimately we still have reading about love as a consolation for a lack of it in our lives. We finally must feel the magic only works when we don’t understand how the illusion is accomplished. His brilliance was he could step back and see his place in the world of distractions, was a rare thing, but ultimately it must be still lonely at the top of any mountain. He was seen and known perhaps, but still removed from the joy of the achievement or successes.
OMG, your prose is just as bad as his. A wall of verbal diarrhea by mediocre thinkers. Lord have mercy on my brain.
@@schmetterling4477 - Thanks for your feedback. Let me know where I can read your prose so you can show how true writing is done. Otherwise, your feedback is just as worthless as my attempt.
@@owenwilberforce6138 I only like to do things that I do well. Why drown the world in the regurgitated swill of yet another amateur? If you are not gifted at writing, don't write. There are so many other worthwhile things to do.
@@schmetterling4477 - That’s cool. I just feel like shitting on others sometimes just means you’re full of it. No offense but why tear things down just to seem like you are sitting on a throne of judgment? If you have anything to say, say it. Anyone can be a critic, few venture to put things out because of the critics who lie in wait. But tearing other people down doesn’t prove anything.
@@owenwilberforce6138 Don't produce garbage and I won't tell you that you are producing garbage. Fair?
Did you read David Foster Wallace, by any chance? It's a swill of teenage depression packaged into a hack of English. Does teenage depression appeal to people who never grew up? Of course it does. That's why he is popular. Does popularity make him a great writer? No. Am I allowed to say that? Yes. You are free to explain to all of us why I am wrong. Good luck with that.
"Full Body Wince".. it speaks to you. We all know the brief, almost nqrcisdiistic self consciousness from looking at ones self in the mirror they were bit wholly anticipating.
I just don't think about pasta very much
i think the creek hes referring to is the boneyard creek
Is there video of this?
I fakking love David Foster Wallace. I almost enjoy the interviews more than his writing.
"tracking down that kinescope..."
38:42 😢
38:43 Looking forward to his 50s
I would assume there is no video of this?
me too. but it's not anywhere except in our fantasies.
1:29 to 1:37
Jesus. Yes.
49:50
If he was still alive I think I'd straight up believe in God
Genio assoluto 😎
35:38
"Which is literally juvenilia."
A machine can master a technique.
I think you have it backwards. Machines can't master techniques - Machines ARE techniques, mastered.
@@jordanm2984 Oh look its Marshal McLuhan!
Geniale 😎
Fixing passive voice is simple. Once you see the construct and its inherent flaws and pitfalls you just stop doing it. At its core it involves artificially reversing the subject and object of a sentence. Now if Kipen is talking about simple state of being that can often be more difficult to remove 100%, though to the extent you can remove it, your writing will improve. I do see some novice writers who do not understand the difference between passive voice and state of being, though both make for weak lifeless writing, getting rid of the former will instantly give your writing more pop, as will getting rid of the latter, but which sometimes proves impossible.
Awesome hearing DFW talk here. I am one-third through Infinite Jest and this time I will for sure finish.
Those audience questions, jesus
so le indie rap man is also a literary poser? sweet brah
I don't know, I thought they were pretty interesting answers actually.
Dom! I love your videos and seeing you comment on a David Foster Wallace video makes me an even bigger fan
Lol hey dom
Dom! Love The Future Late Show
Real recognizes real 😤
Wonder if severe depression opened or stimulated a part of his mind that would not otherwise been accessed?
Yeah the whole tortured artist thing bit of a cliche and explored in shows like House or orther ones or stories like that, often there is a situation where the genius has to give up drugs or go to therapy and doesn't want to do it because he'll lose his talent or his edge of course in that case it's probably just them trying to avoid doing the work. Anyway it could definetly be argued that depression fuels very deep thougt, or that in order to even achieve what DFW did you have to be kind of traumatized. Ultimately I would probably say depression isn't necesseraly required for great art but it can definetly inspire it.
IMO it’s not the depression itself but the isolation that depression is often paired with that allows the mind to have space to wander in places too offensive or uncommon than it would go normally.
@@JonathanPoto interesting thougt Jonathan I will ponder it in isolation.
@Syntax yeah i think without his depression he had been even better... not really into this 'the more i suffer the smarter i get' thing
I think many people with depression, myself included, have trouble with ruminating too much. He probably was cought between ruminating in a negative sense while also gaining great insight through the same thought-doors and pathways that depression gives you. A heightened sensitivity to a world around him that had a productive/destructive duality to it.
I am making way too many assumtions and I'm probably wrong about most of what I said. However, I do think that great insight and inward spiraling thinking, which often leads to psychological unraveling, can often be very close to one another for many people.
1 14 19 46
His voice seems sped up.
metabolism
Yea you can hear the manic more in this one.
@@fifaworld2 It may just be the recording sped up a slight bit and nothing romantic like mania or whatever (even though the latter would be more interesting, but not necessarily true).
yes glad u said that.. it seems so different from other interviews i’ve heard. His speech is faster, his thoughts aren’t as fluid and connected.. also laughing fans kind of always freak me out lol bc they just adore him so much everything is amusing to them.. anyway, not a definitive way to diagnose anything but there is a stark difference in the way he’s communicating.
I agree. I kinda think it was recorded at, say 44.1 Hz and then played back at 48 Hz. So this isn't actually his real voice.
Он разговаривает даже быстрее, чем Екатерина Шульман
The interview confirms the writer's thesis: that American culture, now world culture, is about constant entertainment. The interview is awful or the idiotic question by the interviewer. I suppose he's looking for laughs and most of the questions are obvious cliches.
The audience sounds superficial.
He sounds Manic...
The audience laughter is likely exciting for him.
i think the audio is sped up a bit
painfully dumb audience questions. dfw is the man