I Just Read About That…

[LISTENED TO: September 27, 2010] Consider the Archive

On September 14, 2010, The Harry Ransom Center at the University of Texas commemorated David Foster Wallace through an evening of his readings and (I love this) Wallace-themed refreshments.  It was also the opening of the Wallace archives at the Center.

[UPDATE: November 8, 2010: The research archives have gone online, details are available here.]

There was a live videocast of the evening, which included excerpts from several of his books. I didn’t get to watch it, but I was able to get an audio copy of the event.

The evening’s readers were:

• Molly Schwartzburg –Introduction
• Wayne Allen Brenner, L.B. Deyo, Kurt Hildebrand, Shannon McCormack–The Broom of the System (Grand Ohio Dessert excerpt)
• Doug Dorst, L.B. Deyo–Correspondence with Don DeLillo
• Owen Egerton —Infinite Jest (1960, Jim’s Dad)
• Jake Silvertstein and Kurt Hildebrand–A Supposedly Fun Thing (skeet shooting excerpt)
  
• Elizabeth Crane–Infinite Jest: (Avril & Mario)
• Chris Gibson–Commencement Speech (This is Water)
  

I’ve read all of these pieces (except Broom, which I can’t believe I haven’t read yet) and these readings were really great, very emotive and clearly a lot of fun.

The introduction set the tone very well.  And the Broom of the System piece was very funny and was delivered with lots of humor and inflection by the entire cast (it sounded like a great one-act play).

The correspondence with DeLillo I hadn’t read either actually, but it was delightful to hear.  Wallace’s tone of respect, combined with his wonderful word choices and hilarious combinations made for an excellence choice  to showcase what he was lie as a person.

The first IJ excerpt was very alive.  Egerton read the piece (which is a monologue) with the kind of over the topness that I imagined was intended in it (although his out-loud delivery brought it to life in a way that my reading never did).

The Cruise Ship article is hilarious and unforgettable.  I haven’t read it in a long time and Dorst’s reading is fantastic: humorous and right on target, getting all of the asides and jokes wonderfully.

The second IJ excerpt of Avril and Mario is also well done.  This one is a third-person narrative with occasional dialogue between the characters.

Both IJ excerpts were interesting choice, especially as they do not focus on any of the “main” characters or situations.  IJ is a massive book so it would be hard to choose which section I felt would best reflect the book or even which section was my favorite.  Neither one of these would have been my choice, but it was fun to hear the readings by those who do love them.

The final selection was the excerpt from the Kenyon College commencement speech (also known as “This is Water”).  Since this was the only piece that was originally a speech, it must have been a bit daunting to take it on (not that DFW was an amazing orator, as he himself admitted, but still).  This reading is very powerful.

I’ve mentioned this piece before, but I was really struck this time by the (at least) two suicide references in a speech.  In light of what happened, that’s pretty eerie.  But I also laughed a little when I wondered just how many commencement speeches do mention suicide.  The speech itself is a really good one, and not just for commencement.  I was listening in the car, and, as in the speech, I was in traffic, and I actually did start to imagine myself as not the center of the world.  It’s a challenge.  And I can see how difficult it would be to try and do that all the time.

Whether you’re a fan of DFW or not, this is a great way to experience his writing.  These excerpts aren’t part of the “difficult” sections of his works.  They are lighter and less verbose than many sections of IJ, but they are not atypical either, since DFW’s writing was full of humor and thoughtfulness.  There’s definitely something musical about his writing, and this is a great way to discover it.

An audio file of the event is available here.  And a video, complete with ADA compliant captioning, is promised on the site as soon as it is available.

And while I’m at it, someone just sent me to this awesome diagram of Infinite Jest, so I’ll share it too.