You are correct in some respects, @avclub-09dbda0ec297f8e1fb8fa397efd0f70a:disqus … "Most of The Modern Canon" is a big claim to make, and not really what I meant to say. A metric shitload, yes, but "most"? No, that's a lifetime of reading (and then some), and DFW's not on the list. Have I read Proust? Yes. Beckett?…

You're correct, @avclub-230a11d4f53fa5ecb16c69d668eb8456:disqus, I do need to be more careful about generalizing. I live in Los Angeles, so perhaps my sample is skewed by my geography. I DO know some very intelligent people (my wife among them) who enjoy teen-lit books. College professors, artists, writers. But a…

You're correct, @avclub-230a11d4f53fa5ecb16c69d668eb8456:disqus, I do need to be more careful about generalizing. I live in Los Angeles, so perhaps my sample is skewed by my geography. I DO know some very intelligent people (my wife among them) who enjoy teen-lit books. College professors, artists, writers. But a…

Objectively bad? I wholeheartedly disagree, but I respect your opinion. It is a flawed book: all things great and small have flaws if you choose to call them that. There is no perfection. We have a difference of opinion on what is flawed about this particular book, and I can't claim that IJ is for everybody, but for…

Objectively bad? I wholeheartedly disagree, but I respect your opinion. It is a flawed book: all things great and small have flaws if you choose to call them that. There is no perfection. We have a difference of opinion on what is flawed about this particular book, and I can't claim that IJ is for everybody, but for…

You bring up an interesting point, w/r/t entrenched sexism in modern literature, but I don't think that's the fault of Wallace (or fans of Wallace) really. 20th-century (and beyond) literature, especially well-respected, Pulitzer-prize winning literature, is by and large an Old Boys Club. I won't argue with your…

You bring up an interesting point, w/r/t entrenched sexism in modern literature, but I don't think that's the fault of Wallace (or fans of Wallace) really. 20th-century (and beyond) literature, especially well-respected, Pulitzer-prize winning literature, is by and large an Old Boys Club. I won't argue with your…

I don't mean to sound elitist here, but if a person just wants to turn their brain off for a while wouldn't they just watch television? I understand what you're saying about "keep[ing] the pilot light lit" but in my experience people read kid-lit or political thrillers (ala Clancy) or trashy sci-fi or their chosen…

I don't mean to sound elitist here, but if a person just wants to turn their brain off for a while wouldn't they just watch television? I understand what you're saying about "keep[ing] the pilot light lit" but in my experience people read kid-lit or political thrillers (ala Clancy) or trashy sci-fi or their chosen…

@avclub-e053e4f47a7ccbc51be254596e483d7c:disqus: Christ, give a guy a break, I guess I can't read because I didn't see "ALL" in your first sentence. I agree that DFW's "thinking" and humanism came along in his later writings but DFW's style is just as important to me, and ASFTINDA is hands down a much funnier,…

@avclub-e053e4f47a7ccbc51be254596e483d7c:disqus: Christ, give a guy a break, I guess I can't read because I didn't see "ALL" in your first sentence. I agree that DFW's "thinking" and humanism came along in his later writings but DFW's style is just as important to me, and ASFTINDA is hands down a much funnier,…

I hear what you're saying, @avclub-ba0a95f8ef733a213eb3bd8674a90453:disqus, but that sort of meta-literature is toxic. Collecting a writer's essays and asides and speeches can often seem like the worst sort of opportunism, and unnecessary at best, but unpublished material can offer a glimpse into the mind of a writer…

I hear what you're saying, @avclub-ba0a95f8ef733a213eb3bd8674a90453:disqus, but that sort of meta-literature is toxic. Collecting a writer's essays and asides and speeches can often seem like the worst sort of opportunism, and unnecessary at best, but unpublished material can offer a glimpse into the mind of a writer…

If you think Consider the Lobster is his best non-fiction work, may I assume that you haven't read A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again ? The title essay alone makes it his best non-fiction collection, his essay on David Lynch is required reading for Lynch fans (and detractors, for that matter), and his…

If you think Consider the Lobster is his best non-fiction work, may I assume that you haven't read A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again ? The title essay alone makes it his best non-fiction collection, his essay on David Lynch is required reading for Lynch fans (and detractors, for that matter), and his…

Infinite Jest is the best book ever written, but I agree: Any subjective statement like this is inherently ridiculous.

Infinite Jest is the best book ever written, but I agree: Any subjective statement like this is inherently ridiculous.

I have the biography, bought for me by somebody who knows my deep affection for DFW, sitting in front of me, and the review posted above makes me think I'm going to like the book. DFW's early death is an awful tragedy, and I think that The Pale King was shaping up to be every bit as good as Infinite Jest (I'm…

I have the biography, bought for me by somebody who knows my deep affection for DFW, sitting in front of me, and the review posted above makes me think I'm going to like the book. DFW's early death is an awful tragedy, and I think that The Pale King was shaping up to be every bit as good as Infinite Jest (I'm…

Umm, I hate to break it to you @avclub-70c8f716f569df7bf2781d63c476679b:disqus but the Russians aren't a "race". And making fun of funny accents and bullshit authoritarian regimes (regardless of race, creed, or color) is kind of what we do here, if you haven't noticed.