I just finished reading "Good Old Neon". I'm no DFW apologist but want to hear other people's thoughts on it (couple reading this story with the essay "David Foster wallace and the New Sincerity in American Fiction" by Kelly).
The narrator's perspective (which we're led to believe by the end is some representation of DFW himself) is in many ways like me in progression of thoughts (although I'm still too young/sheltered to be nearly as nihilistic)right down to his affinity for symbolic logic.
Also would like to see how you'd characterize the story in terms of "postmodernism" / "post irony" / "new sincerity" etc.
Wallace, like the phony in the story, was preoccupied with turning life into a Turing test. So Wallace treated sincerity like a Turing test and you can see the results yrself.
>>7389339
Rare DFW thread?
>>7389052
Navel-grazing. Bet his ass fell off right after.
>>7389052
Kinda weird to see him without his bandana
>>7389468
He never quite got the banana sorted out
>>7389468
>he hasn't seen broom of the system dust jacket pic
>>7389052
In terms of irony etc, that story is kind of an attack on postmodernism. When Wallace talks about everything being a cliche he's ironic towards the masters of irony, as (I believe) he doesn't find unique human existence and meta schemes to be cliches the way pomo philosophy labels them.
Also the entire fraudulence thing is heavily autobiographical but Neal represents pomo as a movement itself, too, by being a huge fake. I think that it's what led DFW to come up with this story - seeing a vivid parallel between his dark side and the zeitgeist's main crime.
That story is a masterpiece btw, even if your take on the social context draws it kinda differently
>>7390001
Can you just post more DFW pics
>>7389382
>>7390174
I'm afraid I don't have any *super* rare DFWs.
>>7390607
Ahhh, Good old Neon. Now that was a fucking read.
He hits the nail on the head unfortunately, and captures the curious syndrome of depression and raging self-awareness in a knock out punch of a short story. And truly, I'm not trying to shit upon it since I genuinely do enjoy it.
Looking back on it, and back on his person, it's almost penned as a cry for help rather than a psychological exploration into the mind of a very depressed and fraudulent sociopath. And perhaps that's how he saw himself, and that only makes his inevitable death all the more interesting. Good old Neon is what I'd consider to be among his best work, though if you haven't read it, "The Souls is Not a Smithy" is also seriously up there.
What is this 'rare DFWs' shit? They're called 'rare wallaces'
ahh, good old "good old neon"
>>7390619
Oh god
He's so awkward. I can see the hurried gestures and the sweating beneath his skin happening as he awkwardly "not a part of this lmao" cruises through the crowd. Even in his life he tried to be ironic so he could hide his insecurity.
>>7389382
slaying that audience pussy
>>7390624
That's why we love him though
Just got done reading "A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again"
He's got great voice. I'd recommend you all take it on.
More rare wallaces coming through
>>7390634
>>7390619
did you see that look that bitch gave him
>trying to sleep with a different girl every night for two straight months (I racked up a total of thirty-six for sixty-one)
Not /oneofus/
>>7390619
That Zadie?
>>7390999
Yes, also nice trips
Bum pity
>>7391003
I'd like to see Zadie's trips ifyaknowwhatimean
