I started reading Infinite Jest and lost all hope in becoming a good writer, when there are geniuses like him

I started reading Infinite Jest and lost all hope in becoming a good writer, when there are geniuses like him

Even if I practiced writing 12+ hours a day for years I won't be anywhere near as good as he was at the age of 24

Anyone else with these feels?

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How about you shut your fucking mouth and go write something? If you keep bitching about how you'll never be a great writer, then just fuck off, already. You're creating a self-fulfilling prophecy. Wallace didn't start until he was 21. This alone disproves the whole meme of how "if you don't do it as a kid, you'll never be good."

I like making Amu (DFW) commit suicide, dude's suppose to be smart. He says the dumbest shit ever

Read the work he had published while at amherst, you'll be more confident afterward. On the other hand though, your father most likely isn't a Wittgenstein scholar and your mother most likely hasnt published a book on grammar, so I feel you. But also, DeLillo grew up with immigrants in the bronx and wrote a novel that made DFW feel "dumb and humbled". So it's all relative, work harder newfag

Comparison is the thief of happiness, or something like that.

Despite all of his intelligence, David Foster Wallace failed at writing the book he sought so hard to create. Memes aside, IJ is a bloated mess that covers itself with pedantry and irony. Whatever point Wallace wanted to make, nobody will never know because it's absolutely impenetrable.

Catcher in the Rye, written in the laymen's terms of the time, is a short, concise artistic novel. Salinger wasn't a fucking genius on the scope of Wallace, but he sure as hell was a better writer.

Write what you feel like you are best equipped to write about.

you need to be a harsher critique and less persuaded

which one was that? the delilo novel i mean.

i think most of what IJ is about can be understood by reading E Unibus Pluram and some other works of his.

Agreed. Even still, Infinite Jest doesn't reasonably address those points. It's mired in postmodern expression. Wallace is much more interested in world building that succintly wrapping up his points. The conclusion to any of his essays or novels can attest to this.

Underworld

The Broom of the System to be sure was world building over conclusion. It's still a fun read; a real page turner. A tour de force.

DeLillo also says he didn't really start reading literary fiction until he was around 18. He mostly read comic books as a teenager

What doesnt infinite jest say, and very well?

perhaps it's better to say that it says so much that it doesn't make a definitive statement on anything

source?

theparisreview.org/interviews/1887/don-delillo-the-art-of-fiction-no-135-don-delillo

>Even if I practiced writing 12+ hours a day for years I won't be anywhere near as good as he was at the age of 24

Do you need to be that good at the age of 24? What if you're that good at the age of 34? That seems reasonable, 10 years are enoug to become a master of a craft, and you're not too old to be cut out from the market completely.

>perhaps it's better to say that it says so much that it doesn't make a definitive statement on anything
Perhaps its better to say it contains the seeds to multiple definitive statements on everything; sometimes theres reading between the lines, sometimes theres more than the sum of the parts, sometimes its what you bring to the table

>that pic
What's with all this IASP-posting?

You just gotta get pissed man.

He also didn't publish his first novel until he was 35 years old, and even that one took him four years to write beforehand.

what if i was supposed to bring a mincemeat pie but i left it at home because i got lonely and stuck my dick in it?

I would agree with that. But as I mentioned previously, Wallace's frenetic prose, wide and sometimes contradicting ideas, and a frequent embracing of the irony despite his own credo of distancing himself from such a concept make reading between the lines very difficult.

DFW doesn't allow you to bring anything to the table because he's already covered the entire damn thing with food. He didn't even leave room for the plates or silverware. He wants you to sit and admire what a beautiful meal he's made for you.

I started reading Infinite Jest and I realized that all I had to do to be lauded a 'genius author' was to write like a schizoid while namedropping cultural references.

I am of the view that your life achievements are at least partially negated if you commit suicide

...

/thread
Now go work on it OP you bitch-ass nigga

most artists compares themselves to their influences and complain that they'll never be as good as them

In what way?
Not nesscarily disagreeing, but curious.

Happiness is a spook.

Hello, Harold.

>make reading between the lines very difficult.
Boo hoo, you or anyone negatively critiquing IJ is not doing anything, it is like wearing beyond a bullet proof vest, and you are just farting in its direction, and then getting plaques and medals made for your prideful work.

Everything you say is about yourself, not the book

You're still never gonna be a 'genius author' though...

you need to find your own writing style and stop whining

ok. ok. wow. just... ok. you have got to be kidding me. he is no James Joyce. if this faggot was 1% as good as James Joyce he would be the #2 best writer of all time. but he is not even 1% as good as James Joyce. go twist your asshole with a drill gun you fucking faggot