Asked about novelist David Foster Wallace, who took his own life in 2008, but who has a new book out, “The Pale King: An Unfinished Novel,” put together from manuscript chapters and files found in his computer, Bloom says, “You know, I don’t want to be offensive. But ‘Infinite Jest’ [regarded by many as Wallace’s masterpiece] is just awful. It seems ridiculous to have to say it. He can’t think, he can’t write. There’s no discernible talent.”
What does lit have to say about this?
he was right, though dfw made sense when criticizing pomo and yearning for a new movement in filled with sincerity.
who cares.
everyone on Veeky Forums is familiar with this quote -- this is where the "no discernible talent" meme comes from.
I feel like you can predict what Bloom's opinion will be on any given work with minimal effort
wallace is non-relevant
He just said that because DFW dissed him in Infinite Jest back in '96. Pick up a copy and go to page 911- it reads
>These academics’ arguments seem sound as far as they go, but they do not explain the incredible pathos of Paul Anthony Heaven reading his lecture to a crowd of dead-eyed kids picking at themselves and drawing vacant airplane- and genitaliadoodles on their college-rule note-pads, reading stupefyingly turgid-sounding shit [366]
footnote [366]
>Sounding rather suspiciously like Professor H. Bloom’s turgid studies of artistic influenza — though it’s unclear how either Flood- or dead-ancestor discussions have any connection to S. Peterson’s low-budget classic The Cage, which is mostly about a peripatetic eyeball rolling around, other than the fact that J. O. Incandenza loved this film and stuck little snippets of it or references to it just about anywhere he could; maybe the ‘disjunction’ or ‘disconnection’ between the screen’s film and Ph.D.’s scholastic discussion of art is part of the point.
And to be honest, anything DFW wrote is far more interesting and substancial than Bloom's 'The flight to Lucifer' fantasy bullshit
>He can’t think, he can’t write. There’s no discernible talent
yeah that's bold coming from the author of the flight to lucifer
Watch it, Harold!
DFW is certainly a much more talented a writer than Bloom, but that reference is funny because DFW clearly has some anxiety of influence going on due to his clearly unpaid debts to better authors like DeLillo and Pynchon. DFW probably knows this because this attack is so defensive and out of place.
>unpaid debts to better authors like DeLillo
Read his letters to DeLillo
How new are you? Anyway the quote was made principally because DFW trashed Bloom in IJ. But also because Bloom is a fogey. There is certainly a generational gap. DFW wrote Gen X and Millennials.
What could be Bloom's favorite sci-fI books?
Fucking boring old meme being dusted off again, or you're so Fucking new and full of yourself that you believe no one here has seen that quote before. Kys
Also, Bloom is nothing - a H A C K
Left Hand of Darkness is definitely at the top. He loves Ursula LeGuin. He also likes A Voyage to Arcturus, but admits it's not written well. I don't think he has any other favorites in the genre.
Why do we care about what this fat Jew says anyway?
...
oh, and Thomas M. Disch and Stanislaw Lem are in his (now disowned) canon.
hehehe now there's 2 of us.
I need more of these
Dude, this is exactly what the book is about. It's not like it was something he haphazardly brought up in the last few hundred pages. Also he pays a homage to DeLillo on almost every page. Only two pynchon references that I can think of. Theres more Gaddis and McElroy than pynchon
>Bloom didn't get IJ either
where can they be found?
He only had one enemy left. Two, if you counted Harold Bloom
>Harold Bloom
Who?
>throwing a tantrum cause DFW made a joke about you in IJ
jej
kek
I always respect the artist over the critic, but Bloom's right on this one.
DFW was a talentless hack.
well he is one of the most important lit critics in the world...
>tfw in the new gilmore girls Rory is compared to dfw by a faggot pretentious hipster publishing exec and found wanting