My 11 grade English teacher is the one who introduced me to DFW actually. The first day of class he showed us “This is Water” and it’s stuck with me ever since.
That was my intro to him too! The Wall Street Journal published the entire speech after he died. I remembering reading it and being blown away by his command of language. I’d never heard something so powerful be stated so simply.
Thanks so much for this suggestion. I just got the Audible version of The Pale King (audiobook chapter 70 = hardcopy chapter 22). And you're right: it's great.
I was a fan of Wallace during the late 1990s while in graduate school. You inspired me to order replacement copies of his early essay collections. Do you think Infinite Jest is worth a reread in 2024?
It's a sign of genius that a guy who died at 46 was able to produce pyrotechnics that altered the landscape of American fiction AND develop a later style that is different yet still compelling. With The Pale King, I feel as if Wallace chatting to me about about his life. I like it so much that I also just bought his posthumous essay collectiom, Both Flesh and Not.
Halfway through Chapter 22, my favorite part is when the college-age narrator is surprised by his dad's early return from a business trip. The narrator is embarrassed by his father's evident disappointment at the sight of his stoned son lounging in a messy living room with his dirty shoes on the special coffee table.
I immediately flashed back to being home for the summer before my junior year of college. One morning, while in bed with a hangover, I heard my parents talking in our own living room. My dad expressed frustration with my latest pedestrian grades and said: "I know Steve is capable of much better." Well, for the next two years, I received straight A's before getting MS and JD degrees. Without knowing it, and in few words, my dad delivered the most important motivational speech of my life.
I feel like so much of Wallace's writing, especially his fiction, was him trying to talk to himself and get in the right headspace. I'm specifically thinking of Don Gately's "No one moment of pain is unendurable" passage from Infinite Jest. It's a shame it didn't hold for Wallace over his life. But you only have to lose that argument with yourself one time to be gone forever.
IJ is a huge commitment, but I've heard people say they've greatly benefitted from a re-read. I think it's probably worth it, if only to be reminded that this guy predicted FaceTime and Snapchat filters in the early 90s.
My 11 grade English teacher is the one who introduced me to DFW actually. The first day of class he showed us “This is Water” and it’s stuck with me ever since.
That was my intro to him too! The Wall Street Journal published the entire speech after he died. I remembering reading it and being blown away by his command of language. I’d never heard something so powerful be stated so simply.
I've had the Pale King sitting on my shelf for years. Looking forward to reading this chapter.
How about some other great books and short stories for teens?
I'll recommend (I have three teen sons so these are all tailored to that audience)
-The first half of The Crossing by Cormac McCarthy (about the wolf)
-The Ledge by Lawrence Sargent Hall
-Harrison Bergeron by Kurt Vonnegut
-Barn Burning by William Faulkner
-All Summer in a Day by Ray Bradbury
-Train Dreams by Denis Johnson
I'd throw in Dostoyevsky's Notes From Underground too. Sometimes you need a lesson in what NOT to do.
I think that might be too much, on a literacy level, for my teens!
Thanks so much for this suggestion. I just got the Audible version of The Pale King (audiobook chapter 70 = hardcopy chapter 22). And you're right: it's great.
Excellent! So glad to hear you liked it.
I was a fan of Wallace during the late 1990s while in graduate school. You inspired me to order replacement copies of his early essay collections. Do you think Infinite Jest is worth a reread in 2024?
It's a sign of genius that a guy who died at 46 was able to produce pyrotechnics that altered the landscape of American fiction AND develop a later style that is different yet still compelling. With The Pale King, I feel as if Wallace chatting to me about about his life. I like it so much that I also just bought his posthumous essay collectiom, Both Flesh and Not.
Halfway through Chapter 22, my favorite part is when the college-age narrator is surprised by his dad's early return from a business trip. The narrator is embarrassed by his father's evident disappointment at the sight of his stoned son lounging in a messy living room with his dirty shoes on the special coffee table.
I immediately flashed back to being home for the summer before my junior year of college. One morning, while in bed with a hangover, I heard my parents talking in our own living room. My dad expressed frustration with my latest pedestrian grades and said: "I know Steve is capable of much better." Well, for the next two years, I received straight A's before getting MS and JD degrees. Without knowing it, and in few words, my dad delivered the most important motivational speech of my life.
I feel like so much of Wallace's writing, especially his fiction, was him trying to talk to himself and get in the right headspace. I'm specifically thinking of Don Gately's "No one moment of pain is unendurable" passage from Infinite Jest. It's a shame it didn't hold for Wallace over his life. But you only have to lose that argument with yourself one time to be gone forever.
IJ is a huge commitment, but I've heard people say they've greatly benefitted from a re-read. I think it's probably worth it, if only to be reminded that this guy predicted FaceTime and Snapchat filters in the early 90s.