Welcome

If you're reading this, chances are that you enjoy David Foster Wallace's work and that you may have become involved in the Infinite Summer blog, which is dedicated to reading and discussing DFW's mammoth novel, Infinite Jest.

This blog, directly inspired by that one, is intended as a footnote-like counterpoint to it, and dedicated to providing an alternative experience to reading - or failing to finish reading - Infinite Jest. 

As you probably know, DFW gave a commencement speech to the 2005 graduating class of Kenyon College, which was widely circulated and quoted from after his death.  It's been published in a marvelously compact form by Little, Brown and Company, under the title, This is Water: Some Thoughts, Delivered on a Significant Occasion, about Living a Compassionate Life.

In its published version, the speech is printed with only one sentence on each page.  The speech is made up of 135 sentences (the book, with title page, is 137 pages in length).  Given that Infinite Jest is 1079 pages long (including footnotes), each page a mass of print (How many sentences? The Infinite Summerians may know) - it seems to me that what we have here is a virtual alpha and omega of the DFW oeuvre.

The confession: Despite my eagerness to be a part of the Infinite Summer project, I gave up on Infinite Jest on page 178.  (Using parens in lieu of a footnote, I'll note that I lived for 19 years at 178 Bleecker Street in NYC, so this page number somehow seemed a fitting personal literary Waterloo landmark.)

It occurred to me that there may be, among the many people who've attempted to complete Jest and failed (for whatever reason), those who were reading DFW for the first time - and thus may believe they "got" the David Foster Wallace experience.

I humbly suggest that This is Water contains, in fact, a generous helping of what is essential to this writer's greatness (i.e. his humanity), and I hate the idea that anyone, having only dipped into his long novel, would possibly deprive themselves of the Water experience.

You can probably read the book in its entirety in about 10-15 minutes.  Its effects, I believe, may last a great deal longer - a day, a month... a lifetime?

It's my hope that this little site may become a forum for those who've read Water to share their thoughts and feelings about it, DFW, and whatever else may be related. 

Come on in - the water is fine.

Comments

[Chris]

I'm both excited and delighted by this. DFW's commencement speech is one of those things that you read and realize it's what you should have read a long time ago, maybe before you even went to get groceries in the first place.

Thanks, Billy. Glad to be here.

[mernitman]

Hey Chris: Thanks for being the inaugural commenteer. I'm hoping that the book catches on with pre-grads... high schoolers... how about graduating sixth graders?

[Chris]

Thanks for starting this site, and for recognizing the benefits of discussing this great DFW piece. I finished IJ two weeks ago, but was inspired to read it after hearing about Infinite Summer. I knew I had to read DFW after stumbling upon his commencement speech (I've dabbled in Buddhism and the resemblance of ideas is striking). It was the first thing I read of his (I've now read "Consider the Lobster", and just picked up "Oblivion"), and I have forwarded it to many friends. Maybe for Xmas I will buy the book as a gift to everybody. You hit the nail on the head -- DFW's humanity is what connects to at least this reader, and I assume to all his fans. For me his "genius" is something I could do without, if I didn't connect to that humanity. His work connects and hits hard, felt in a way he would call "spinal".

[Chris]

I stumbled upon an audio excerpt from the speech.

http://thisislobster.tumblr.com/post/167727651/an-audio-excerpt-of-david-foster-wallaces-kenyon

It's weird, the speech seems like a catch-22 where you can't really understand it until you've lived all those typical ways he's describing. I can't imagine being a sixth grader and grasping the picture he's going for. Like... well, like water, I guess. There's just so much richness in the idea of being "present" in the world and understanding others and the way we live with each other.

[stephanie]

i'm sure you have plans for this site, but just as a suggestion - in order to get more people talking, you might want to post more about the book, throw out some ideas and ask for feedback.

[mernitman]

Chris, I had that same impulse - buy a bunch of these books and send them to... everyone I love? Everyone I know? Better yet, everyone I DON'T know but egotistically assume will benefit from reading it?
It's a spinal experience, that's for sure.

Thank you so much for the audio excerpt. I want to post about this section, but in truth, I'd already started to draft a post about the beginning of the book, so now I'm thinking I may approach this more linearly. Or not?... Because -

Inspired by Stephanie's comment, I've realized I actually have to... go somewhere with this... (New post imminent)