TITLE: I Did the Reading, and Watched the Video
AUTHOR: Eugene Wallingford
DATE: February 25, 2012  3:04 PM
DESC: 
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BODY:
<A HREF="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:David_Foster_Wallace_headshot_2006.jpg">
   <IMG SRC="http://www.cs.uni.edu/~wallingf/blog-images/people/david-foster-wallace.jpg"
        ALT="David Foster Wallace, 2006"
        ALIGN="right"
        WIDTH="168"
        HEIGHT="192" /></A>

It seems that I've been running across David Foster Wallace
everywhere for the last few months.  I am currently reading
his collection
<A HREF="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Supposedly_Fun_Thing_I%27ll_Never_Do_Again">
   A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again</A>.
I picked it up for a tennis-turned-philosophy essay titled,
improbably, "Tennis Player Michael Joyce's Professional
Artistry as a Paradigm of Certain Stuff about Choice,
Freedom, Discipline, Joy, Grotesquerie, and Human
Completeness".  (You know
<A HREF="http://www.cs.uni.edu/~wallingf/blog/archives/monthly/2011-07.html#e2011-07-03T13_16_19.htm">
   I am a tennis fan</A>.)
On the way to reading that piece, I got hooked on the essay
about filmmaker David Lynch.  I am not a fan of Wallace's
fiction, but his literary non-fiction arrests me.

This morning, I am listening to
<A HREF="http://www.openculture.com/2012/02/david_foster_wallace_the_big_uncut_interview_2003.html">
   a lengthy uncut interview with Wallace</A>
from 2003, courtesy of
<A HREF="http://twitter.com/#!/fogus/status/171948235575922688">
   fogus</A>.
In it, Wallace comes across just as he does in his written
work: smart, well-read, and deeply thoughtful.  He also seems
so remarkably pleasant -- not the sort of thing I usually
think of as a default trait in celebrities.  His pleasantness
feels very familiar to me as a fellow Midwesterner.

The video also offers occasional haunting images, both his
mannerisms but especially his eyes.  His obvious discomfort
makes me uncomfortable as I watch.  It occurs to me that I
feel this way only because I know how his life ended, but I
don't think that's true.

The interview contains many thought-provoking responses and
interchanges.  One particular phrase will stay with me for
a while.  Wallace mentions the fondness Americans have for
the freedom to choice, the freedom to satisfy our desires.
He reminds us that inherent in such freedom is a grave risk:
a "peculiar kind of slavery", in which we feel we must
satisfy our desires, we must act on our impulses.  Where is
the freedom in that prison?

There is also a simple line that appealed to the teacher in
me: "It takes skill and education to get good enough at
reading or listening to be able to derive pleasure from it."
This is one of the challenges that faces teachers everywhere.
Many things require skill and education -- and time -- in
order for students to be able to derive satisfaction and even
pleasure from them.  Computer programming is one.

I recommend this interview to anyone interested in modern
culture, especially American culture.

As I listened, I was reminded of this exchange from
<A HREF="http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2011/05/the-hard-part-one-of-them.html">
   a short blog entry by Seth Godin</A>
from last year:

<BLOCKQUOTE><EM>
A guy asked his friend, the writer David Foster Wallace,

"Say, Dave, how'd y'get t'be so dang smart?"

His answer:

"I did the reading."
</EM></BLOCKQUOTE>

Wallace clearly did the reading.

~~~~

PHOTOGRAPH:  David Foster Wallace at the Hammer Museum in
Los Angeles, January 2006.  Source:
<A HREF="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:David_Foster_Wallace_headshot_2006.jpg">
   Wikimedia Commons</A>.
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