“At 13-14, Wallace was maybe smarter than even me.” Even you? The most important thing any of us involved in writing and studying literature need to learn is humility.

He literally wrote “Brief Interviews…” - he knew exactly what he was and at least tried to confront it. Most famous male US writers of the last century were predatory mysoginists, Wallace at least tried earnestly to confront that aspect of himself, which was crucial in getting the social dialogue to where it is now

I mean who hasn't pushed their loved one out of a moving vehicle, serial cheated on them, stalked them and their kid, smashed shit, broke young mothers, ect.?

@marocat4749

5 күн бұрын

I mean that sounds like a bipolar with bad episodes? Ok not that it excuses anything , but it sounds not a hate women but badly dealing with mental health issues. Also he is dead and most authors, it shouldnt matter. Especially with him dead, its a useless discourse? Plus while thats abusive he is ded and it feels going into abelism there?! No t that its ok in any way .. And as prodessor he kinda, not good. He just isnt a monster and its a good point what of that he was aware that he was doing, not that it makes itr better.

I wonder if he left the bandana on when he was getting it on

@henrikibsen6258

3 ай бұрын

He used it as a towel.

@wolfh9831

4 күн бұрын

😂

Great video. Thanks brother

this is a fantastic and insightful story, I never would of predicted id get so much from a video on David foster Wallaces life

To be completely honest, I view our species as pretty monstrous universally. I don’t see anyone who reaches adulthood as being innocent, because I think it's a fact of growing up that you're going to think and act like an animal to an apprecoable degree. I believe in growth and a high level of overcoming the worst parts of our nature, but to point a finger from some fantasy pedestal bothers me as much as the "problematic" assholes roaming around. Abuse and narcissism (ad infinitum) ARE real problems, but nobody disputes this. It's damn near a tautology. But art speaks for itself. If you have to be a cheerleader for the personal character of all the artists you enjoy, have fun with the lifelong sensory deprivation.

Sounds like a pretty average addict/alcoholic to be honest with you. If you poll most members of AA/CA/CMA/HA/NA you’ll find the overwhelming majority of them behaved very similarly. A drug addict/alcoholic was acting selfishly. :O Who ever could’ve seen that coming?!

Wild thumbnail, but liking the approach of understanding you left in this video. Opposed to character assassination there is a conscious effort to levy criticism of DFW's decisions from his earlier life, as well as providing a timeline for what happened. To be honest, community temperance is a big part my personal life and having support structures behind you(both physically and spiritually) can hold you together. Falling into a spiral it can be difficult to get out(espically if you develop a neurological dependency for substances), however you make it past to the sea to reach the surface and get out while you can. Good video!

Really great video mate. You’ve just done a tightrope walk over the abyss and made it look easy. One of the things I felt strongly is your idea that we need new modes of living-Different ways of educating and relating. If literature is going to have any effect on us as readers and society at large, we can’t fall for box office ideology violently overthrowing capitalism or getting the heterogeneous nuclear family back in to church. DFW was on the precipice. He’d been through too much. The time was not ready to facilitate this kind of conscious revolution. He was at the bottom of the black hole of his time. I do think it’s possible that we are either going through a societal breakthrough or breakdown right now. Maybe this is our time to make the staying change. You’re doing truly revolutionary stuff Ian. Big respect

Infinite Jest definitely abused my patience.

@lfb3441

2 ай бұрын

You’re not the only one, every bag of hammers agrees with you

@simplelifedays3692

Ай бұрын

😆

Dropping some serious truth bombs at the end, WC. Well done, Sir.

You should talk about Philip Roth.

God bless DFW 🙏👋🤦🏼‍♀️

You kind of lost me at the end when you railed against public schools. For all the flaws of public education, it is still a fundamental part of a productive and prosperous society. We should find ways to improve it, not condemn it. And the statistics for home schoolers do not paint a positive picture about it's effectiveness.

@Thurnishaley6969

4 ай бұрын

He rambles too much. Very little cohesion but it is entertaining

Addicts can be very kind and generous people.

@DiogenesNephew

3 ай бұрын

Even murderers have their moments.

@JordyC-rc9ij

2 күн бұрын

No one is all good or all bad, (though personally can’t find any positive qualities in Trump…) We’re all exceedingly complex! We all have strength, weaknesses etc…

You are right to say that the culture of publishing and academia would like to erase writers for their sins against the new theologies. Its also true that writers and artists did things that were personally awful. I have an iron moral law about this. You don't have to read their work if what they did upset you. But you can't tell anyone else its wrong to separate the art and the artist

Fascinating video. I’d be interested to hear more about your take on the rabbit hole simulacra of online communities and its effects you can see in your students (gen Alpha).

absolute concurrence: if we absolutely condemn the Thanatos, we all lose the Eros.. we would be devoid of all artists..

What, if, Distortions of Reality " produce "distortions of truth"? Then, once, using an intense vocab, being a writer, infuses grammatical truth values. Aren't most of the great writers, abusers, of some sort? One's behavior, when writing, is, still, subjective.

Damn bro. I finally understand.

You might enjoy my video essay on reading IJ. Or not. It’s on my channel called “left to our owned devices”

Everyone has skeletons in their closet but. It really depends on, to what extent. How many skeletons, what are they there for? I love Roman Polanski movies. But the man is revolting. I think that's the responsibility we have when discussing "immoral" artists. Don't allow them to seem prestigious one bit. At least, when talking about the worst ones. Of course, Hollywoo and the literary establishment tends to fail at this. They honour these guys and talk about their problematic nature later.

@marocat4749

5 күн бұрын

something really must have broken in hin his wife died, but yeah polansky is great, rosemaries baby a masterpoiece but, yeah indefensable ther eis way too much focus on him and not going to actually support now to help protect, he is a symptom not that worth the attention, its to make it better, , but idk why defend him.

DFW was a Self indulgent narcissist. I don’t think you know the extent of his abusiveness. I don’t think any of us truly know what another human being is capable of or has done. I agree with Karr, that we should read everyone, BUT I also believe we shouldn’t minimize their darker sides.

@DAWGDigest

4 ай бұрын

A self indulgent narcissist? the man hated himself and was in constant pain. It's disgusting you'd call him that. People make mistakes.

@tscardinal

3 ай бұрын

@@DAWGDigestunqualified to diagnose a dead man I’ve never met so I’m not agreeing with OP here, but narcissists absolutely can be self hating

@BrendaGarcia-ty2ml

3 ай бұрын

@@DAWGDigestIt appears that you’re under-educated on clinical narcissism- at their core, they hate themselves.

@DAWGDigest

3 ай бұрын

@@BrendaGarcia-ty2ml Yeah that's common knowledge. But the guy wasn't a narcissist. Regardless. You're still here watching these videos about him.

@xtinkerbellax3

21 күн бұрын

@@DAWGDigest Boiling abuse down to a mistake is concerning.

mary karr, if someone needs the spelling

Hey mate! I’m just confused by this part: 3:24 I looked up the execs but unsure what you mean? I thought maybe they were gonna be Jewish or something but I can’t actually work it out just by looking at their name. Cheers!

@zenegg99

3 ай бұрын

I think he probably means that they're obviously very PC with pronouns in bios etc. I think it's kind of silly to frame it in a conspiratorial way though, it's more like publishing houses are hiring people who will publish books that wont be considered risky by exposing them to bad press or lawsuits.

@DiogenesNephew

3 ай бұрын

​@@zenegg99Idk about all that, sis.

We all need to exceed our personality type. Un-mediated personality can be fully described in the short clinical description of neurosis and their corresponding types. Not much room for a balanced personality. I disagree about public school and weed. Your people poison your path ahead of you, especially in schools of privelege. I was from a labor family, and went to shitty public school. I spent 35 years in a large clique of professor and lawyers offspring. They remain a narcissistic clique of vindictive gatekeeper personalities. They are all on Welbutrin, Lexapro, and seek therapy from their own socio-economic peers. It's all about the feedback loop of " I am right". Collective ownership of other peoples life narratives, and dismissing the first hand account are habitual among them, and malignant in the collective dynamic. I guess I can reluctantly agree about weed destroying the drive, but it takes a lot of back-stabbing to maximize one's credentials in most cases. I love the strong personalities, but it's the heroic martyr range rather than the vindictive complex that characterizes my favorite narcissists.

I see bits and pieces of him in almost every man I've ever known. Tell me something shocking.

@WriteConscious

2 ай бұрын

I see bit and pieces of him in every woman I've ever known. shocking

16:08 huh funny, how each person assesses their own way if someone could be a potential friend/colleague/partner. I couldn't care less about religion or drugs or politics, just by the way they answer anything at all is already enough for me to see if they are compatible people. hahaha I guess I should ask more of that you mention. But so far I've been right I guess!

Love all the professional trained psychiatrists in these comments X'D I'm increasingly convinced that mid-range intelligence is the range to aim for lol. The smartest people are the ones who don't burden themselves with thoughts of intelligence. I think of McCarthy, whose confidence in literature collapsed throughout his life as his understanding of mathematics expanded.

I most definitely have skeletons in my closet, many of which I lie open: my misanthropy, my distrust, my anger, and my frustration. And even still, I find Wallace… quite clearly pathetic and someone we can see enter the realms of the “writer’s hysterics.” Someone that is incredibly vain, vacuous, venomous, and violent in their own character, having a sort of emotional stunting that holds him back-and that’s from a cursory glance at best. Writers and artists in general are this breed of people that are incredibly self aware of their own flaws, yet raging hypocrites all the same when it comes to tussling with it. Wallace reminds me often of my own ex (and now odd FWB) whom was a deep addict, blamed it heavily on that stuff, and was a 40 year old with the spirit of the a 20 year old, and while she was more physically abusive, the emotional abuse and ability to break you down is a horrorshow you don’t even realize is creeping up on you. Prescription drugs addiction is a whole other madness to tussle with when you love someone and you put up with far too much than you think you can handle because of what you know is there but is clouded by that artificial decadence.

@Thurnishaley6969

4 ай бұрын

Lame

David Foster Wallice clearly had Borderline Personality Disorder(BPD). You should do a video about that. Most men who commit suicide are said to have BPD: Kurt Cobain, Anthony Bourdain etc....

@mattheww797

4 ай бұрын

Kurt cobain was diagnosed with bipolar not borderline

@Splattermelt

4 ай бұрын

That's a massive sweeping generalization. I have never heard of Anthony Bourdain having BPD; He's mentioned depression and had that, however it's never been stated that he has BPD. Also not everyone who commits S. has BPD. What a wild thing to say...

@lordbunbury

4 ай бұрын

DFW was in and out of mental health facilities and has never gotten the diagnosis of BPD. Mary Karr did though. Being in a relationship with someone who has BPD can be very toxic (both ways). Trauma bonding, the constant on and off again signs of love and hate, devaluation, etc. DFW was very unstable and needed someone to cling on to. Clinging to someone with BPD will start a rollercoaster of emotions and all kinds of highs and lows. Both came from addiction, Karr was married and started to have an off and on again relationship with Dave. They fought a lot.

Hmm I would recommend changing the thumbnail. Interesting discussion though as always

@WriteConscious

4 ай бұрын

Changed it!

oh no its the monological "patriarchy"

David is not a womenizer.... If you can't see that....

RE your concerns about cancel culture: maybe they do want to get rid of everyone but they aren't going to succeed! In ten years this generation will have their own skeletons discovered. They'll change their tune when it's them on blast.

Thumbnail is ridiculous

@WriteConscious

4 ай бұрын

changed it!

@freebirdjackson5511

4 ай бұрын

@@WriteConscious sad…you know what the optics are conveying. You lost me as a viewer

@LivingInTheKaliYogurt

4 ай бұрын

​@@freebirdjackson5511 so long & best of luck

@tscardinal

3 ай бұрын

@@freebirdjackson5511what was it?

I agree with some of your points, but your video description isn't accurate. You didn't just give an objective timeline, you inserted your own commentary. I don't think we should stop reading Wallace's writing, but we also don't need to make excuses for crimes like stalking. Also I find it interesting that you talk to your audience as if they're all hetero men, as in "What would you do if magnificent women were in your DMs?" I won't unsubscribe because I'm interested in this topic, but my eyebrow is raised.

David Foster Lawless 😂. Sorry. 😢

The word 'misogynist' is used too liberally; probably because it's difficult to find any genuine misogynists. Being a woman on the receiving end of an unpleasant situation is not proof of misogyny, unfortunately seems to be how people define it. I think this is because people just like the technical/intelligent sound of the word. If these same people were forced to substitute it for "hates women" their claims would sound ridiculous and hysterically disproportionate to the circumstances; or they're really so deluded as to think anything but unconditional praise is the same as "hating women". The same is not done when woman berate men, as they do, based on perceived innate characteristics men are guilty of possessing when they complain about sexism. It's very unbalanced. I think if abuse occurs in intimate relationships, whatever the nature of the 'abuse' may be, I'd say it's more to do with the fact that two people are trying to cohabitate on a complex emotional level not demanded by other relationships; and this is (obviously) more often than not going to take place in heterosexual relationships (though not per-capita if you compare homosexual relationships, particularly lesbians IIRC). So, really, if there's any conflict between men and women, it's mostly due to matter's of circumstance and _not_ highly prejudicial and selective targeted abuse based on innate characteristics, i.e. sex (in this instance). Wallace wasn't gay, so he's not likely to have 'abused' any men. Simple as that. I would say being a woman has really nothing to do with it. If someone does something abusive, say, during an argument, the impetus for the abusive behavior will be whatever the disagreement is about, not whether the other person is a man or a woman. Human beings are imperfect, and anyone who forgets that even when faced with instances of abuse is a reductionist of the human experience and guilty of artificially raises the bar of social acceptance to a degree unattainable to anyone actually human and not idealized. This isn't to say abuse is tolerable, but it is to say all abuse is not intolerable. It's not the same, it's not equal under all circumstances. Regarding Wallace himself, and the strange female response to him: I think it's awfully strange that the women who complain about Wallace also end up complaining about Wallace _as a man_ and men _in general_ . It's difficult not to conclude that they hate men, at least if judged by their own flimsy criteria. Certainly this must be so. When women complain about male writers they end up extolling, by contrast (in their minds), the virtues of female writers who are implicitly thought to posses qualities which aren't so manly; i.e. there's something innately less rotten about women than men. If a man were to suggest, or straight out say such things, what would you call that? Probably misogyny and you'd probably be right.

Thumbnail is not it but interesting video topic

@WriteConscious

4 ай бұрын

changed it!

@joya5000

11 күн бұрын

What was it?

Believe all women! #justanothernpc

@Thurnishaley6969

4 ай бұрын

You are lonely

@clintonhaws8984

4 ай бұрын

@@Thurnishaley6969 'cause you said so.

TLDW: they were asking for it

@LivingInTheKaliYogurt

4 ай бұрын

Huh?