Recommended Reading: David Foster Wallace

It was incredibly sad news to hear of the suicide of author David Foster Wallace this past weekend. Having just finished reading "Consider the Lobster" just two weeks prior it was rather a jolt. The man was an astute observer of the world and had a brilliance and sense of humor which made him a joy to read. That is, at the times when I could understand what the hell he was talking about. And this is coming from a man who upon picking up "Infinite Jest" off the library immediately replaced it back out of sheer terror at the magnitude of its size. Which from what I understand is nothing compared to its complexity.

There were a couple essays out of "Consider the Lobster" that are highly recommended. Anyone who has ever enjoyed porn or hates everything it stands for should read his essay "Big Red Son." His personal account of watching the events of 9/11 unfold at a neighbor's house in "The View From Mrs. Thompson's" is an example of his amazing ability to observe the world in a different manner from the rest of the normal world and so eloquently communicate it. The ability that I was so struck by. But probably the best piece out it was "Up Simba" (now reworked into the book "McCain's Promise") his chronicle of his time on the 2000 John McCain campaign should be read by anyone who feverently supports either of this year's presidential campaigns. Or who is fed up with political maneuvering and press coverage and the general political process.

But by far and away the most profound thing I've read this whole year (current year tally in books: 28; Second most profound (and profane) thing was this Deadspin post) was his
Kenyon commencement speech from 2005. As a liberal arts college graduate who is admittedly lost I take great solace from those words. It has inspired me in many ways to do things like start this blog. An attempt which "enables my tendency to over-intellectualize stuff, to get lost in abstract argument inside my head, instead of simply paying attention to what is going on right in front of me, paying attention to what is going on inside me." It helps me come to grips with my current reality and how "to keep from going through your comfortable, prosperous, respectable adult life dead, unconscious, a slave to your head and to your natural default setting of being uniquely, completely, imperially alone day in and day out."

Sometimes when I down I must kick myself in the ass to "choose to force myself to consider the likelihood that everyone else in the supermarket's checkout line is just as bored and frustrated as I am, and that some of these people probably have harder, more tedious and painful lives than I do."

" It is about the real value of a real education, which has almost nothing to do with knowledge, and everything to do with simple awareness; awareness of what is so real and essential, so hidden in plain sight all around us, all the time, that we have to keep reminding ourselves over and over:

"This is water."

"This is water." "

David Foster Wallace: a brilliant writer who will be missed. A recommended read