Was he a good professor? What do we know about his classes? Are there any published first-hand accounts?

The prequels were objectively bad movies but props to Lucas for fleshing out the universe with multi-media and even attempting political intrigue(politicians manipulating wars to their advantage) in a space opera popcorn movie at the height of the war on terror
Still terribad though

According to the DT Max bio he was a very involved and caring professor, he would try to see the good in every one of his student's writing and at one point cried for some reason related to a student, I wish I could tell where in the book exactly

>storytelling
= reddlit

Here is the unit outline for one of his courses. He seems very strict desu, which I suppose is good.

...

...

>giving your students a statistical breakdown of your grading tendencies

what the fuck is he wearing

How did dfw get the audience pussy?

buying into the expanded universe = literal middle schoolers

The prequels, especially the first two, are objectively bad films and not even fun to watch in a self-indulgent way

what.... isn't this how its done everywhere?

>English 102

Why was he teaching such a shit class?

Eh.

He would be the type of professor that tries to juggle roles of mentor and cool-adult-guy. You know, the kind that lectures you on some issue on the basis of "been there, done that". You'd lose count of shoulder pats in two months, as he would give them generously in a manner that's both condenscending and flatterous. "Your generation might save this miserable blue ball, don't squander yourself". For some reason, he would feel as though his prime is already past him and all he can do is to be a role model. When somebody snaps and demands the academic dealings to be done in a respectful an official manner (after "Your essay is A when compared to the rest of the class, but you can do much better, so you don't pass), without the fog of familiarity, DFW is the type of prof to react violently. Any rejection of his soft authority is treason to him, purposeful sabotage.

You know the type of guy.

I've read this before:thinking:

...

He sexually harassed his students

That nervous anime arm grab

Haven't seen this yet in any syllabus

Revenge of the Sith is literally better than Return of the Jedi.

Nobody saves my posts because they are not entertaining, I don't do it myself because that's humiliating, so each time this thread comes up, I have to write what I've written tens of times, except it becomes less expressive and shorter each iteration.

he was lucky, he died before disney bought the franchise

D-DELETE

It's really good, even if you didn't write it

Also his attendance policy is gay as fuck

>He unironically hates sincerity

He is probably the reason why the curriculum is full of shit and the description is a tiresome joke.

prequels are borderline incompetent at times but ultimately charming, in that lucas' passion for his franchise is palpable. i'll take that over sleek corporate product any day.

Someone posted his syllabus once, which read like an introduction to reddit

I read his biography. He would hate students who tried to be "smart" in their writings, like the show-off po-mo he hated, and then advise them to write something about a kid who's pet bunny died. He once got in an argument with a student about this shit that was so intense he shoved him against a wall.

I didn't know Courtney Love and Sarah Palin studied English.

Wow that's a really cool shirt.

Wow, what a sincere used diaper he has on his head.

Unprincipled, uncontrolled and terrible
Just like his work

Based DFW, showing those pseuds who's TOP DOG.

>throwing your diaper across the room because you felt like it was not what liberation is, liberation is mounting the diaper; filling in as the turd and just doing it. just doing it

>Try to be smart one more time kiddo

Good Old Neon was literally inspired by that same kid. He send it to his parents originally and only published it because they approved of it so fervently. He knocked in his left lateral incisor iirc.

Do you guys think you could take DFW in a fight?

According to DFW in the Charlie Rose interview, nobody knew he was a famous author or that he wrote Infinite Jest; they just knew him as the "grammar nazi."

Every single professor that I've ever had has done this.

>I read his biography
how to waste your time: the manual

>call him a fraud who's not as intelligent as he thinks he is and that he knows this
>he breaks down sobbing

how tall was he?

Very unrelated and not even very funny but I had a government exam for English and we had to write the essays on the computers using shitdows vista and the OS crashed halfway into my second essay on NATO policies and AGAIN the FOURTH essay I wrote so I had to shitpost each one a THIRD time with the disclaimer the computers crashed at the bottom and the marker thought they were decently impressive given the circumstance so I wrote similar anecdotes on all my crappy essays since. Fin. Also, you should write more aphorisms like that but then make a gigantic story with the rolodex of archetypes. Would purchase for a reasonable price given such "types" can be manipulated to flesh out cash for the right cause (which is in some way or another self-depreciative)

Without a doubt

Paul Thomas Anderson went to that school entirely to see him then left when he quit. My thoughts on PTA says that yes, he is good.

6'3"

yeah but even so if you have a very prominent author on staff shouldn't you have him teaching something a little more advanced than a freshman english class?

Do you think DFW enjoyed popping his zits? What about his student's zits

They knew he was shit and didn't want him to corrupt anyone

where do you go to school?
you mean you have no idea how much your assignments are worth? sorry to make a big deal about this but this is baffling...

he talks about this a lot, its no secret. he actually says that when HE was in college him and his classmates would write complex, self-reflexive, post-modern shit that they thought was so clever and rule-breaking and get marked down for it, not because they were bad writers but because it was boring as fuck to read. He said his professors made a point to prove that good writing has to be entertaining first, smart second.

Hey it was a cool book. Really breaks the myth on that "sincere saint" bullshit his fanboys spread.

As I read it he meant the breakdown on the bottom of the page, that is, how many people he's had as students and how many of them have gotten this and that grade

oh right kek
anyway i've had professors do that, not all of them but a fair few. it's to give a rough indication of where you stand in relation to your peers. getting a high distinction means nothing if everyone got a high distinction.

Literally high school tier
Would have dropped day 1

not to shitpost, but i rly have never gotten more than a few chapter into any of his stuff

it bores me, and i srsly do not understand in what ways any of infinite jest is insightful or meaningful much less profound

inb4 "u hafta invest 2,000 pages before you'll get 'it' tho" -- No, I'm not going to just take ur word on this and read 2000 fucking pages or however ridiculously long it is to hope that, on the last sentence, I didn't just waste my time. That is my theory on why so many ppl sing it's praises, sunk cause fallacy makes them feel as if they have to believe it was great or they'll have to understand they just wasted so much fucking time

What does the F stand for?

Is this copypasta?

How the fuck did he become a professor without a Phd?

Now it is.

I saved your post :3

I took a creative nonfiction course with him at Ponoma back in '94. We weren't allowed to show anyone our essays outside of the class for some reason. He seemed naturally intelligent, didnt need to look at any notes or textbooks or prepare for any lectures, he just knew his stuff and was super casual.

I saw him talking to a girl on campus one day. He uncharacteristically wore a Fila sweatsuit, the kind that looks like it's made from the same material as parachutes, and trainer sneakers with a matching bandana. That was his pussy hunt outfit apparently. Several times a week, same outfit, I'd see him hitting on women in it. I once saw him wearing it while carrying an identical outfit from the dry cleaners, he had like 4 sets of same Fila sweatsuit.

I asked him about it in class and he said we aren't allowed to discuss anything unrelated to class while inside class, the same way we can't show anyone outside of class our essays. A student called out "but Dostoevsky isn't in this class and last week you talked about replicating his black tea obsession to test its affects on your own writing". Wallace stared blankly at the student with dead eyes for 30 seconds in dead silence then said "you just got knocked down a full letter grade. Any other smart asses? Didn't think so." and pushed up his glasses with his index finger.

I remember telling myself this guy will either be super successful or kill himself.

this was pretty common back in the day, actually, and even today you can see it among adjuncts.

I... actually believed you for a second, well-done.

He's said in an interview that they just like it if you're a published author.

KEK

6/10 bretty gud

Nowadays you can easily become a professor with just a master's. The English department head at my local state school is like that. In arts departments, where output doesn't necessarily mean publications, I've seen professors with just high school degrees.

Certainly insightful. Not very meaningful, not very well written. But it's fun to read and insightful. It wouldn't have been a meme if big Dave didn't it make so clear he was trying so hard.

Which parts were good? What could I improve to make this would-be pasta better? Thanks

his short stories and essays are the best things he wrote.

pasta isn't really meant to be believable. I'd simplify the "We weren't allowed to show anyone our essays outside of the class for some reason.". redundancy really isn't needed

the tracksuits bit is where you know it's bullshit, i.e. because it's funny. maybe make him more pathetic seeming? DFW being a playboy isn't really believable

"Anybody gets to ask any question about any fiction-related issue she wants."

freudian slip perhaps?

...

His pussy hunting outfit being a Fila tracksuit is hilarious. I don't need to know he had four of them, the dry cleaning alone is hilarious.

After the relative formality and elaborateness of the beginning, "That was his pussy hunt outfit apparently." made me laugh out loud

I wouldn't add the 'didn't think so' part and would have probably redone that dialogue altogether, but as inane to his character "you just got knocked down a full letter grade" seems it actually works just because of how inane staring for 30 seconds is. That actually made me laugh the most. The pussy hunt thing is tasteful because it reflects a certain sexual innocence on you the writer desu so flaunt that knack. The other things are minor and you'll figure them out hitting post enough times.

Source?

>it reflects a certain sexual innocence
I got that too lmao

htmlgiant.com/craft-notes/grammar-challenge/

Nah. I can't beat retard strength

>Wallace stared blankly at the student with dead eyes for 30 seconds in dead silence then said "you just got knocked down a full letter grade. Any other smart asses? Didn't think so." and pushed up his glasses with his index finger.

I lost hard

>You have been entrusted to feed for your neighbor’s dog for a week while he (the neighbor) is out of town. The neighbor returns home; something has gone awry; you are questioned.

>“I fed the dog.”

>“Did you feed the parakeet?”

>“I fed only the dog.”

>“Did anyone else feed the dog?”

>“Only I fed the dog.”

>“Did you fondle/molest the dog?”

>“I only fed the dog!” [Here Wallace’s voice cracked funnily.]

fukn lol

>breaks the myth on that "sincere saint" bullshit his fanboys spread
The saint david idea is only a strawman invented by DFW contrarians who want something to mock or criticize. Everyone knows DFW's a weird sperg and nobody tries to gloss over it.

I took a creative nonfiction course with David a Foster Wallace at Ponoma back in '94. You were not to discuss essays with anyone outside of class for some reason, he kept it secretive. He seemed to know his stuff, didn't need any lecture notes or prep, was all from the hip, super casual.

I saw him talking to women on campus several times. He would uncharacteristically wear a full Fila sweatsuit that looked like it was made of the same material as parachutes, trainer sneakers and a matching bandana. Apparently this was his pussy hunt outfit. Every time I saw him, same outfit, several times a week. I'd see him wearing the sweatsuit while carrying dry cleaning of the same sweatsuit, he had like 4 sets of the same exact outfit.

I asked him about it in class one time and he said we're not allowed to discuss things from outside class, just like everything in class stays in class. A student called out "but Dostoevsky isn't part of this class and last week you talked for like 20 minutes about mimicking his tea obsession to test its affects on your own writing." DFW stared at him motionless for 30 seconds that felt much longer and said "I'm knocking you down a full letter grade for not raising your hand." That same student raised his hand immediately. DFW looked away, glared at me for bringing up the sweatsuit. "Any other smart asses?" He said, pushing up his glasses with his index finger.

I remember thinking he'd one day be a successful writer or flat out kill himself

first one was better

probably not then, but im on a cut. after my next bulk id chance it.

Took all the wrong advice. This is worse.

>Ponoma