We Miss You, Dave

Everyone at No Record has been bummed out and questioning a whole lot of things since hearing last weekend of Dave’s (aka, David Foster Wallace) death. My remembrance of him as a teacher is up over at n+1 here. Benjamin Kunkel has thoughtful words on how DFW opened up possibilities and gave us hope: “[Infinite Jest] confirmed what before was mostly a set of willful, abstract premises: literature can matter as much now as ever; the age is no bar to greatness; even this world before our eyes can be represented in a novel.”

I’ve been sorting through a whole ton of DFW-related material on the internet. And there’s a lot out there. Harper’s has put up all of DFW’s articles for free here. I’ve remembered best Dave and his voice and mannerisms through audio and video of him. Here is his interview with Charlie Rose from over ten years ago. NPR’s Fresh Air finally released online part of his interview from shortly after Infinite Jest came out. Also good are his Bookworm interviews.

Finally, I’ve really enjoyed reading what people have said on the Pomona College website and on McSweeney’s. Pomona College Professor John Seery wrote his tribute in The Huffington Post. The personal anecdotes have reminded me to laugh about Dave.