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/lit/ - Literature

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17278227 No.17278227 [Reply] [Original]

I can't think of a single author born after him who approaches his talent

>> No.17278233

>>17278227
Fpbp

>> No.17278264

his talent was nothing more than extending sentences twice- or threefold over via subsidiary clauses

>> No.17278315

>>17278264
Have you read his essays? He had a crazy amount of potential beyond infinite jest and his essay writing is his best shit. His view of media consumption is pretty bang on and has only gotten worse in recent years. As 4chan users of all things ppl, we should be able to appreciate what his commentary on internet addiction could have been if he had lived on til 2015.

>> No.17278316

*pffft*(wet fart)

>> No.17278336

>>17278315
NoNe Of Us ArE aDdIcTeD tO tHe InTeRnEt LmAo

>> No.17278364

>>17278315
>we should be able to appreciate what his commentary on internet addiction could have been if he had lived on til 2015.
He already answered that.

>> No.17278393

>>17278364
Wot

>> No.17278410

>>17278315
i've only read his essays (all of them). they epitomize the criticism with which i've charged him

>> No.17278466

>>17278227
I was thinking something similar earlier today, where are the era defining contemporary authors at? Why are there no /lit/ worthy exciting authors out there, or if they are out there who are they? What's going on, is literature dying?

>> No.17278474

>>17278315
>internet addiction

Non-problem.

>> No.17278481

>>17278466
I don't really read contemporary stuff, so it is not like I can say anything about that. I really like a lot of his essays. Got into his stuff mainly because of some random videos he made and I thought they were interesting.

>> No.17278501

>>17278227
He was an unremarkable joyce larper in a long line of unremarkable joyce larpers
There is no talent to speak of

>> No.17278526

>>17278501
He actually killed himself because he knew he hadn't any talent.

>> No.17278554

>>17278393
What more do you think he could have said on the subject that he did not already say in IJ and TPK?

>> No.17278760

>>17278526
he killed himself because he was mentally ill

>> No.17278770
File: 10 KB, 214x300, F0715E17-99E4-4E85-A73F-E52D778ABC3A.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
17278770

F. Gardner

>> No.17278775

>>17278760
His writings show it.

>> No.17278777

>>17278760
Popular misconception.

>> No.17278784

if you're under 65 ............... that means shit

>> No.17278785

>>17278760
his mental illness was severely exacerbated by his anxiety of influence (paranoia of the shadow)

>> No.17278796

>>17278264
>subsidiary
You mean subordinate?

>> No.17278963

Knausgaard and Lahiri at least approach his talent

>> No.17279040

social commentary doesnt count as aesthetic talent

>> No.17279064

>>17279040
Past the flannel plains and blacktop graphs and skylines of canted rust, and past the tobacco-brown river overhung with weeping trees and coins of sunlight through them on the water downriver, to the place beyond the windbreak, where untilled fields simmer shrilly in the A.M. heat: shattercane, lamb's-quarter, cutgrass, sawbrier, nutgrass, jimsonweed, wild mint, dandelion, foxtail, muscadine, spine-cabbage, goldenrod, creeping charlie, butter-print, nightshade, ragweed, wild oat, vetch, butcher grass, invaginate volunteer beans, all heads gently nodding in a morning breeze like a mother's soft hand on your cheek. An arrow of starlings fired from the windbreak's thatch. The glitter of dew that stays where it is and steams all day. A sunflower, four more, one bowed, and horses in the distance standing rigid and still as toys. All nodding. Electric sounds of insects at their business. Ale-colored sunshine and pale sky and whorls of cirrus so high they cast no shadow. Insects all business all the time. Quartz and chert and schist and chondrite iron scabs in granite. Very old land. Look around you. The horizon trembling, shapeless. We are all of us brothers.

Some crows come overhead then, three or four, not a murder, on the wing, silent with intent, corn-bound for the pasture's wire beyond which one horse smells at the other's behind, the lead horse's tail obligingly lifted. Your shoes' brand incised in the dew. An alfalfa breeze. Socks' burrs. Dry scratching inside a culvert. Rusted wire and tilted posts more a symbol of restraint than a fence per se. NO HUNTING. The shush of the interstate off past the windbreak. The pasture's crows standing at angles, turning up patties to get at the worms underneath, the shapes of the worms incised in the overturned dung and baked by the sun all day until hardened, there to stay, tiny vacant lines in rows and inset curls that do not close because head never quite touches tail. Read these.

>> No.17279070

I’ve effort posted about him, media consumption, the interview, what his opinions would be, but the posts are always lost because the threads die without good faith discussion, which is ironic knowing his writing, which is even more ironic knowing his opinions on sincerity.

>> No.17279123

>>17278315
"How Tracy Austin Broke My Heart" literally left me speechless when I read it. One of, if not the best essay I've ever read.

>> No.17279143

>>17278466
Trigger warning: women and ethnic minorities are included in this list. Your safe space will be violated by reading these names:
Nathan Hill
Sally Rooney
Min Jin Lee
Colson Whitehead
Zadie Smith
Marlon James
Han Kang
Junot Diaz

There would be more for 21st century literature but people like W.G. Sebald and Joyce Carol Oates were old fucks when they wrote Austerlitz and Blonde respectively.

>> No.17279159

>>17279143
Junot Diaz? Hasn't he been cancelled? I haven't read any of his books and I won't start now (though I did read one short story--neither liked nor disliked)

>> No.17279171

>>17279064
Yeah that about settles it, he was the best writer alive

>> No.17279173

>>17278227
>I can't think
Why is no one surprised anymore.

>> No.17279174

>>17279143
>Min Jin Lee
>Han Kang
>Junot Diaz
>Colson Whitehead
funny fake names haha

>> No.17279182

>>17279159
he was cancelled for "forcible kissing" that he backed off of when he realized it wasn't reciprocated
I'm one of the rare people who reads and enjoys literature that is considered woke while also not generally caring about the moral character of the author even when it's something legitimately fucked up.

>> No.17279209

>>17279182
how do you deal with the soul-crushing levels of cognitive dissonance?

>> No.17279218
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17279218

>>17278770
F that Constant Gardener

Also, yeah, there's good modern writers. I won't tell you until I have time stamped my love of them before you. nyuk nyuk nyuk.

it kills me i read brief interviews with hideous men & almost nothing else of his while he was alive. oh well. like how i feel about stephen malkamus. that dude is GOOD.

>> No.17279232
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17279232

>>17279209
>I didn't rape anybody
>I'm not bigoted towards anybody
>book itself doesn't promote such things
>only books I enjoy that DO promote such things are from people already dead like Lovecraft
That's how.

>> No.17279255

>>17279232
that's not what i meant
>(woke) book implicitly promotes equality for and sympathy toward minorities and women
>(you) don't care that some authors have behaved dishonorably toward said groups

>> No.17279277

>>17279218
just curious, is that a picture of oldenborg?

>> No.17279301

>>17278227
Just a shitty Pynchon desu

>> No.17279333

>>17279171
The really impressive thing is once you understand the novel you realize those two paragraphs summarize it beautifully. They lack the impact which the novel as a whole has, but that is not their purpose. They setup the novel perfectly and tell you more than you can realize at that point, by far my favorite first chapter.

>> No.17279356

>>17278316
fpbp
(fourth post best post)

>> No.17279365

>>17278785
>>17278777
>>17278775
>>17278760
He didn't kill himself

>> No.17279382

Any of y’all got recommendations on where to start with his work? I’ve downloaded a buncha of his essays on the internet as PDFs and I have a copy of Infinite Jest I want to start on but with so much I’m just not sure where to start...

>> No.17279396

>>17279123
Haysus christos you ought to read more mane

>> No.17279403

>>17278796
>subordinate
You mean submissive?

>> No.17279409

>>17279232
Finally, a based poster on reddit. Actually reads.

>> No.17279411
File: 45 KB, 309x475, broom of the system cover.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
17279411

>>17279382
Broom of the System is kino and severely underrated.

>> No.17279502

>>17278315
It's hard to say people are addicted to the internet when society is actively being changed to become more digital. In person meetings are the exception at my work now. Even boomers have had to dive in the tech world to function.

>> No.17279522

>>17278474
retard

>> No.17279600
File: 553 KB, 665x794, ErZguvzXIAU0H04.png [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
17279600

>>17278227
i see none of you have read selfie, suicide. we are witnessing a literary genius being born which (arguably) has already surpassed dfw

>> No.17279607

>>17279382
Just dive into IJ, it gives the best overall picture of his work.

>> No.17279657

Anyone have the copypasta about crying to the 2003 interview?

>> No.17279934

>>17279600
lol some of the passage included in William Guppy's review were terrible, the guy shouldn't have written a fiction book.

>> No.17280041

>>17278227
Wow not even Tao Lin?

>> No.17280151

>>17278315
rec me two books by him other than IJ, could be essays, novel, stories. shoot

>> No.17280179

>>17278227
yeah me neither, he is just that shit

>> No.17280259

>>17278227
Probably is, just their work had to disseminate. He also had the luxury of being on the forefront of a new genre.

>> No.17280270

>>17278315
The most inspirational for me was his essay on Tracy Austin: https://youtu.be/U7BYK0hZibk

>> No.17280345

His prose is ugly

>> No.17280529

Friendly reminder that IJ is the last Great American Novel

>> No.17280533

>>17279171
the pynch is better fren

>> No.17280546

>>17279382
good old neon

>> No.17280590
File: 80 KB, 1199x623, Eogj59WW8AMfLQ_.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
17280590

>>17278227
>"That black penises are actually the same size as white penises."
im thinking he's based

>> No.17280624

>>17280590
context?

>> No.17280652

>>17280624
a list of things that a character learned while living in a halfway house

>> No.17280698

>>17279064
which book is this

>> No.17280709

>>17278227
the fucking bandana is so fucking stupid

>> No.17280722

>>17280698
The Pale King.

>> No.17280926

>>17280151
Two short works that will help you decide if you like DFW without putting in the effort of reading IJ are probably the title (cruise) essay from A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again and Good Old Neon, a story in Oblivion. For fiction, I'm also partial to Brief Interview #20 which is the penultimate vignette in BIWHM (the one that starts "And yet I did not fall in love with her until she had related the story of the unbelievably horrifying incident(...)"). IJ is (imo) his best work and worth the read, so if you think you can stomach it from the taste test: start chowing down.

>> No.17280939

Why do people like Good Old Neon? Can't see the appeal desu

>> No.17280968

>>17280926
Good ol Neon is one of his worst and certainly the worst in Oblivion.

>> No.17281214

>>17280968
It's polarizing. People seem to either really enjoy it or really dislike it but in my experience (okay, 2 other conversations, max) the people who dislike it dislike DFW's writing in general, hence why I recommended it as a DFW sampler. Which stories in Oblivion did you like best?

>> No.17281328

>>17281214
Most everytime it is mentioned here someone says exactly what i and the other anon said. The Soul is not a Smithy is generally the winner for best story from that book on this forum.

>> No.17281380

>>17278227
I think that might just be because there are no talented contemporary authors, sorry to burst your bubble.

>> No.17281598

>>17278227
Me lol

>> No.17281622

>>17278466
Yes. creatives are going into other mediums like film.

>> No.17281961

>>17278315
Hard trust his essays contain any worthwhile assertions when at all other times he can be observed channeling the power of hesitation.

>> No.17281973

>>17281961
>t. does not know what an unedited interview is.

>> No.17283042

>>17279143
>junot diaz
He's garbage

>> No.17283203

>>17278227
He was a midwit, Midwestern mental midget and slippery, slimy snake-oil salesman who died far too old.

>> No.17283214

>>17279403
yes daddy :3

>> No.17283227

>>17283203
>He was a midwit
this

>> No.17283240

>>17278227
yeah I can't think of any 12 year olds as good as him

>> No.17283255

>>17278227
is he the adorno of fiction?

>> No.17283629

>>17278410
What criticism is that anon? Genuinely curious. I love DFW

>> No.17283976

>>17278315
Nah, The Pale King was his best shit (or would’ve been, were he able to finish it). I agree his essays were on the whole superior to infinite jest but TPK just has this quiet authenticity of feeling that you can’t find anywhere else in his oeuvre.

>> No.17284023
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17284023

>>17278227
Mathias Énard. Don't know if I can think of anyone else though.

>> No.17284497

>>17280698
Suttree

>> No.17284516

>>17280590
>that pic will never be real
why live

>> No.17284526
File: 69 KB, 1280x720, dfw23.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
17284526

>>17284516
>Hey David this is the part where we do a deep dive into your instagram and you explain what's going on in the picture, but because you don't have one we have found a file from someone on 4chan with 30 images of you, can you explain this one?

>> No.17285156

Megan Boyle

>> No.17285219

I'd respect him more if he didn't try his hardest to look like a fucking loser.

>> No.17285365

>>17279143
Pol living in your head rent free

>> No.17285403

>>17283976
>dude unconsciously sarcastic irony
I don't get how this is authentic. Do Americans not get it either?

>> No.17285408

>>17278227
inventing your own language game comes at a price

>> No.17285410
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17285410

>>17279502
At least for me, there's definitely a compulsory aspect to my internet use outside what's required by university: It's hard to stop once I start, I certainly use it too much, and it's essentially no longer enjoyable. I'm relatively lucky because my childhood was pretty low-tech, but imagine what it's like for the 3-7 year olds who are being raised on ipads in lockdown.

I think it manifests best in that I have a really hard time doing anything without the perfect thing playing in the background; not because I really need it--once I'm off the internet it's not too hard to stay off--but something about disconnecting is really hard. There've been many days I've never been off the internet. Here's DFW on the topic:

youtube . com/watch?v=9g-OaS50gbA

>> No.17285437

>>17279143
ZADIE SMITH! Aha!

>> No.17285921

>>17278227
what's his appeal?

>> No.17285950

>>17285921
Some of his stuff shows a bit of his depression. But he is cool, anon. Writes clearly and I don't know how to explain, but check out that article about some fair, he is overly descriptive without annoying me. I hate descriptions, anon. But if I ever get into those I want to do it kinda like him. I haven't bothered analyzing it or anything, because I don't feel like being a writer.

>> No.17285962

>>17285950
And I probably won't ever, because I like it and I don't care. So it is not like I have to justify it in an exam, and I absolutely don't have to do it in here.

>> No.17285978

>>17278227
>>17278315
I- I miss him, bros..

>> No.17286164

>>17280926
i've already read IJ and I liked it a lot, so i want to move forward. does your rec still stand?

>> No.17286952

>>17278315
I listened to the Tracy Austin thing.
Did he imply the corporate glowies tried to fuck her up through those 'freak accidents'?

Also what other essays to you recc? Should I just buy Consider the Lobster?

>> No.17287318

The depressed person is one of his bests

>> No.17287614

IJ is so comfy I just fell asleep reading it. It was a good nap. I dreamed of fake north american geopolitics.