A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again

created by ideath

(thing) by ideath (5.9 mon) (print) ? 1 C! I like it! Mon Apr 03 2000 at 15:14:20

A book of essays by David Foster Wallace. The title track is about taking a luxury cruise, something he was too wonderfully neurotic to enjoy. My favorite is E Unibus Plurum, an essay about writers and television, but also about voyeurism and creativity and all that good stuff. That essay also contains (at the beginning of a sentence, the beginning of a paragraph, the beginning of a section, so it stands out) the fabulous phrase: existentiovoyeuristic conundra notwithstanding. There are also essays on fairs, tennis and tornadoes, and Lost Highway

Also should be mentioned (disclaimer): like any DFW, this book will not be enjoyed by people who don't like long words, tangents, or footnotes.

(thing) by Gamaliel (4.3 y) (print) ? 1 C! I like it! Mon Jul 03 2000 at 3:13:07

I can't think of a better phrase than "wonderfully neurotic" to describe this book.

I just read the title essay today, and I wanted to insert a personal note. Winston, the ping pong pro slash DJ is an alumnus of my alma mater, the University of South Florida. He is a perfect example of the remarkably stupid USF business major slash pimp wannabee, which makes up about 99% of the fraternity population on campus. Wallace reports that Winston was going to change his major from business administration to "multimediated production" (sic), which to my knowledge (and I'm a teacher and an academic advisor at USF) has never been a major at USF - or anywhere else for that matter.

Five years after the cruise I would imagine that Winston, who would be 31 now, has long been bounced out of USF on academic probation, but you never know. I think I will embark on a personal quest to track down Winston and bitchslap him.

printable version
chaos

Best War on Drugs commercials	The five stages of drinking	On three separate occasions, I gave up my life so others could live	David Foster Wallace
Sarcasm is the lowest form of wit	How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Turn Off My TV	Brief Interviews with Hideous Men	Lost Highway
In the Beginning was the Command Line	bitchslap	Bitch: In Praise of Difficult Women	A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Hubris
marijuana	Medieval Manuscript Production	Spider-Man and his Amazing Friends	neurotic
notwithstanding	Pranks and practical jokes	E Pluribus Unum	alma mater
voyeurism	Fat is a Feminist Issue	Daily Evil - Monday, September 25th	enema

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