Probably not a popular opinion... I first heard him read this shortly after it came out, and at first I thought it was great, but the second time I heard it, it fell apart. This fell flat for me considering it was a commencement speech. It reads like it was written by a sad lonely man, for other sad lonely men. He was speaking to a huge auditorium full of parents and children, and he wrote something for himself. He couldn't imagine a world where there was more than his life, outside his water. The world of every parent in that room. I've always felt like he made his point in ways he never meant to.
That's what they get for inviting a depressed existentially angsty speaker! He was never going to make some uplifting speech, that's not who he was. The speech is true to himself and that's a good thing. But yeah, as a fan of his, I wouldn't invite him as a commencement speaker...
I really like this address but your comment made me reflect that what I like most is probably DFWs delivery and style rather than the content of his message, which I don’t find to be especially profound. But also, he was a writer and a often depressed one so when you invite that kind of person what you might get is really well delivered performance by someone who knows how to sound wise and not cliched- and in that respect I think he succeeded. Though of course it is true that after the relatively meaningful period of college (for many) the absolute mudanity of the adult world is
like a slap in the face.
Children are the audience for freshmen orientation.
Isn't the idea that, by the time you are being given a commencement speech, you are an adult? Isn't that kinda the point of this speech? "Society says you've finished school and you're an adult now, but it's not gonna be that easy".
I feel like it would be disingenuous to invite a chronically depressed man and expect an upbeat discourse about how exciting life can be in college. I think it's a defining feature of depression to fill one's consciousness to the extent where there's little left for acknowledging other things or other people. The works I read of David Foster Wallace's seemed different ways of him expressing his discontent about the world and how little importance he gave it.
Yeah I don’t see what the hype was about this guy. He was physically abusive towards his girlfriend, was creepy with her son, and he killed himself. Seems like a loser.
Have you read any of his essays or novels? IMO consider the lobster is one of the best essay collections ever and Infinite Jest is the best novel by an American since Ernest Hemingway. Yea he was an asshole, but his writing is good.
> Infinite Jest is the best novel by an American since Ernest Hemingway
This remark is painfully cringe-inducing, and I can only think you haven't read very much at all. And if you think you have, then I can most assuredly say you haven't.
Perhaps it's because the parent can't distinguish between the person and the work. Show me someone who's produced remarkable output and hasn't done shitty things.
The "well-documented" seems to be a disgruntled ex-lover talking about a dead person who can't comment on it anymore, and then other people writing what the disgruntled ex-lover said, or is there more to it?
