The Howling Fantods

David Foster Wallace News and Resources Since March 97

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Inside - 1985

Tuesday, 16 September 2008 22:08 New Fiction
Ryan from The Know(e): dfw has released the second of the The Amherst
Documents.
 
You can download Inside (an excerpt from chapter one of The Broom of the
System) from The Know(e): dfw.
 
(A new and uncollected to piece to be released tomorrow...)
 
 
And while you're at it, step back in time with the full text of
DFW's Believer interview. Released in full today.
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Last Updated on Tuesday, 16 September 2008 22:11
 

Update 17-9

Tuesday, 16 September 2008 21:26 General Updates
Latest links and update here DFW 1962-2008 :
 
Globe and Mail - The web remembers
Globe and Mail - The Shadow of Depression
Globe and Mail - Letters
NPR - Newer Piece
Beliefnet - Idol Chatter
The Independent - Dark Side of David Foster Wallace
New York Times - Opinion
Stephen Schenkenberg - How Wallace made me smile - A great piece.
John Ziegler - The guy DFW wrote HOST about. No comment.
Some audio appreciation from the GLT newsroom - Charlie Schlenker and Charlie Harris
 
Thanks to everyone who has taken the time to send in links, particularly all the bloggers out there. Got anymore?
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Last Updated on Tuesday, 16 September 2008 22:29
 

Updates 16-9

Tuesday, 16 September 2008 03:34 General Updates

Sorry, forgot to add this to the front page this morn. Working on further round of updates right now.

 

- Harper's has made available everything they published of DFW in pdf format.
 
- Amherst has set up a notes and remembrances page which can be viewed in
full if one has an Amherst login.
 
 
From Jennifer:
There is starting next week a David Foster Wallace Memorial Book Club in
Denver, Colorado. The bookclub will be organized by Jennifer Bugg of Denver,
and she can be contacted at jenniferbuggpsyd [at] earthlink [dot] net.
Additionally, one can go to www.meetup.com and use the search engine
to find meeting locations and times. The first year of the organization will
be devoted to reading DFW's own works.

Thank you,
Jennifer
New Links, also to be found over at DFW 1962 - 2008 :
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Last Updated on Tuesday, 16 September 2008 22:27
 

Mr. Costigan in May - 1985

Monday, 15 September 2008 17:45 New Fiction
Ryan from the spectacular dfw bibliography site, The Know(e): dfw has released the first of what he is calling The Amherst Documents.
 
Ryan says it better than me:
 

In July I undertook a massive month-long road trip. I spent one day in Amherst combing the shelves for mentions of DFW and was not disappointed. I intended to share my finds with Wallace-l upon my return in early August, but I got a new job and things got put on the back burner.

Now, with the terrible loss of David Foster Wallace, the least I can do is for my fellow fans is get those items out to the community. So, I’ll post one item each day for the next six days. Most of these items aren’t even mentioned in the bibliography yet, so an update to that will be coming when I’m done posting these items.

 
You can download Mr. Costigan in May from The Know(e): dfw.
 
Thank you so much, Ryan.
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Last Updated on Tuesday, 16 September 2008 22:02
 

Updates 15-9

Monday, 15 September 2008 17:39 New Fiction
From Bruce Weber's piece at the New York Times - Books:
 
His father said Sunday that Mr. Wallace had been taking medication for depression for 20 years and that it had allowed his son to be productive. It was something the writer didn’t discuss, though in interviews he gave a hint of his haunting angst.
 
[...]
 
 James Wallace said that last year his son had begun suffering side effects from the drugs and, at a doctor’s suggestion, had gone off the medication in June 2007. The depression returned, however, and no other treatment was successful. The elder Wallaces had seen their son in August, he said.

“He was being very heavily medicated,” he said. “He’d been in the hospital a couple of times over the summer and had undergone electro-convulsive therapy. Everything had been tried, and he just couldn’t stand it anymore.”

 
New pieces since I left this morning, thanks everyone. All posts can be found here: DFW 1962-2008
 
Salon.com - Laura Miller
NPR - All things considered
The Huffington Post - Greg Boose
The Guardian - Michael Carlson
Uncomplicatedly - Great post, IJ spoiler warning.
ABC News - In memoriam video
Time - Entertainment - Journalism of DFW
Time - Entertainment - Appreciation
LA Times Idealistis Skeptic
LA Times - Oblivion
LA Times - Infinite Jest
LA Times - Consider the Lobster
LA Times - Life and Works
AP - Authors grieve
Guardian.co.uk - Book Blog
New York Times - Books - Breuce Weber
www.corriere.it (Italian newspaper)
 
 
 
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Last Updated on Monday, 15 September 2008 20:03
 

Updates

Monday, 15 September 2008 03:46 General Updates
Thanks for all of the emails. It was a pleasure to wake up on this side of the world and read them. I am reading them all.
 
Quick responses:
  • The pagination for all English versions of the novel are the same, the line referred to in my previous post on p.981 is the last in the whole novel prior to the footnotes.
  • Yes, I'd be happy to help coordinate and publicise remembrance readings. But don't forget I'm on the other side of the world in Australia so it is difficult for me to do much more than that.
  • I'm planning on setting up a remembrance page, of sorts, get writing. A funny experience with IJ on the bus? Your fave line? (I don't know really, we'll see what happens)
New Links:
 
NYT Books - Kakutani
Jonathon Goodwin - Responds to Kakutani's position over time. I couldn't agree more.
Some Came Running - DFW's editor for the Premiere pieces.
 
Time for work. Keep the links coming. More when I get in tonight. Check out the DFW 1962-2008 page for more.
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Last Updated on Monday, 15 September 2008 03:56
 

Thoughts Part 1

Sunday, 14 September 2008 19:39 Latest
(I've set up a permanent page for all the reports, obituaries and remembrances from around the internet, DFW 1962-2008. You'll find new additions there from now on.)
 
I've got a lot to share. The following is the first bit.
 
Thoughts Part 1
 
I've been updating and polishing this site dedicated to the work of David Foster wallace for 11 years.

In that period of time I...
  • Graduated from university with a double degree (Arts/Science). 
  • Earned a diploma of education in secondary teaching and became a high school English teacher.
  • Realised I was in love.
  • Moved out of home.
  • Attended four Cure concerts in the space of a week and met Robert Smith.
  • Moved in with my partner.
  • Discovered I was good at animating lego using stop motion animation.
  • Won a couple of awards for said animations.
  • Travelled overseas for the first time.
  • Got married.
  • Turned 30.
  • Had a son. Lost my grandfather the following day.

The one constant was David Foster Wallace.


What I didn't do in all that time...
  • Try to contact David Foster Wallace.
  • Attend a David Foster Wallace reading.
  • Take photos of David Foster Wallace while he was reading.
  • Line up after hearing David Foster Wallace read and get him to sign my 1st Ed. Hardback of IJ.
  • Eventually reach the front of the line, and thus David Foster Wallace, and nervously (almost sub-audibly) admit that, yes, yes it was me who created that 'Howling Fantods' website.
  • Share an uncomfortable, meaningful, and silent exchange of looks.
  • Say, "oh, and would you mind signing my... I mean your... book?"
Part of the reason I didn't do these things is because it was physically impossible. I live in Australia, always have. There were times when it was hard to report on those early, intimate (I imagined) readings. I so wanted to be there.
 
I have often wondered what David Foster Wallace would have inscribed in my copy of Infinite Jest. What treasured words I could be reading right now.
 
The distance ended up being a blessing. It kept me at arm's length, and I eventually realised that all of the attention made David Foster Wallace... uneasy.
 
As for his writing, I've always loved these lines from Westward the Course of Empire Takes Its Way in the collection Girl With Curious Hair:
 
Please don't tell anybody, but Mark Nechtr desires, some distant hard-earned day, to write something that stabs you in the heart. That pierces you, makes you think you're going to die.
 
If you own Infinite Jest (and you have finished reading it, don't dare do this if you haven't) turn to p. 981 and read the last line. Remember how you felt when you first read that?
 
See?
 
 
 
 
More to come.
 
 
 
 
 
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Last Updated on Monday, 15 September 2008 18:48
 
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