Thursday, September 25, 2008

Shipping Out

David Foster Wallace:
February 21, 1962 – September 12, 2008


"My own terror of appearing sentimental is so strong that I've decided to fight against it, some; but the terror is still there....Do you identify with a distaste/fear about sentimentality? Do you agree that, past a certain line, such distaste can turn everything arch and sneering and too ironic? Or do you have your own set of abstract questions you drive yourself nuts with?"


....In an note to his editor at the New Yorker.

For those unfamiliar with Mr. Wallace and put off, say, by the sheer poundage of "Infinite Jest," please spend an hour or two with his charming and feverish essay about cruise ships. It's marvelous.

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