"Look man, we'd probably most of us agree that these are dark times, and stupid ones, but do we need fiction that does nothing but dramatize how dark and stupid it is? In dark times, the definition of good art would seem to be art that locates and applies CPR to those elements of what's human and magical that still live and glow despite the times' darkness. Really good fiction could have as dark a worldview as it wished, but it'd find a way both to depict this dark world AND to illuminate the possibilities for being alive and human in it. You can defend "[American] Psycho" as being a sort of performative digest of late-eighties social problems, but it's no more than that." - David Foster Wallace
AP > IJ
DAVE STEP AWAY FROM THE ROPE
AWAY
FROM
THE
ROPE
Eeh... No
>>7873841
He sounds like one of those fags who needs to read his daily affirmations book every day or he will hang hisself.
Besides American Psycho gave me boners.
Walrus confirmed for being cuck.
>>7873856
first post best post
>>7873841
DW overlooks a lot in American Psycho. Reading The Stranger, I noticed that Ellis borrows liberally from Camus' style, and given that, a major theme of AP is authenticity in that 80's environment (Bateman doesn't feel good killing the kid because the kid hasn't been indoctrinated yet; the only honest character in the entire thing is his secretary, whom he spares). It's not the deepest book ever, but it does have enough to it that I think it warrants a bit more analysis than "lol nihilistic killing/fashion/nonsense food"
It''s a nice book for the period of life where you're experiencing Absurdity/DW's Water and are feeling angry because you're feeling lost in it.
The Incandenzas and/or Gately haven't entered the shared culture of the world... Is it because Endless Fun was just a performative digest of nineties America's social problems—all criticism being autobiography, &c.
I guess I can see Mr. Bale playing James O. & Tom Hardy as Gately. It's IJ's only chance to meme its way into the mainstream!
>>7873890
David Faggot Walrus?
>>7873890
Indeed, his indignant vexation illustrates his need for grasping his platitudes tighter still. It's the anxiety of the blatantly unconvinced "optimist" who struggles to believe pretty lies because he cannot imagine life without them. And it never works with the perceptive person, they inevitably see through their own farce and spiral quicker still.
>good art would seem to be art that locates and applies CPR to those elements of what's human and magical that still live and glow despite the times' darkness
This is some Disney Channel bullshit. Did DFW write greeting cards to pay for all them bandanas? You see this tripe on a fat girl's livejournal, stuck between her Twilight/Fault in our stars mashup
>>7873975
Well said
>all these edgy faggots
>>7873975 is right. DFW's conception of art is a series of platitudes about how everyone's life is, beneath the surface, difficult and complicated. Every meaningful work has taken this as an obvious starting point, not an apotheosis.
That said, he's right that American Psycho isn't art.
>writing a book that can't have a movie adaptation
ya fucked up dave
>>7874897
>writing books that can have movie adaptations
wew
>>7874897
>writes a book about the dangers of being addicted to media
>book claims that video calling would never take off
Ya blew it Dave
that's literally the worst part of the interview tho
>>7873841
American Psycho said shit that needed to be said in the late 80s - Early 90s. Yes now it's a cliche worldview and redundant as fuck, but at the time it really wasn't.
The Redundancy that Wallace laments is a testament to the book's success and influence. It has become the default view of that period of time.
>>7873841
"Books that dwell in darkness without at least trying for a way out are lazy at best, and cowardly at worst."
There, I said what Dave said in one fucking sentence.
Bloom is completely right about this guy.
>>7873841
Why did he like Blood Meridian if this is how he felt?
>>7873841
Did you know that Ted Bundy's first dog, a collie, was named Lassie?
>>7873890
>cuckcuckcuckcuckcuckcuckcuckcuckcuckcuckcuckcuckcuckcuckcuckcuckcuckcuckcuckcuckcuckcuckcuckcuckcuckcuck
Please kill yourself.
>>7873841
The thing is that the number of books you can write about walking the right path is limited, while the number of wrong paths you can take is almost unlimited. I agree that books where all the writer does is complain and doesn't offer a solution are meaningless.
people always underrate American Psycho, mostly because they're plebs and faggots
