Dfw - Tumblr Posts
Something to consider
I’m reading DFW (David Foster Wallace) for my creative nonfiction writing workshop this semester, (specifically “Host” from Consider the Lobster), and I’m struggling.
Like, I’m three seconds away from hurling this book across the room, struggling.
And I had a thought.
People have said that writing that is too complicated or dense to read, much less understand, is bad writing.
But I can’t believe that about DFW.
Looking beyond my fear of authority, (aka defying the people that say DFW is a good writer), I can’t honestly say that this writer--who was nominated for a Pulitzer, has won several other awards, and is essentially canonized as an edgy “wake-up” artist--is a bad writer. Too many people, people who’s writing I respect and appreciate and are distinguished in the literary community, think that DFW is good at writing.
So no, I don’t think DFW is a bad writer, per say, but consider this: Writers or writing that is so dense that it requires outside assistance to read and understand, i.e. an English class and professor that will explain what writers like DFW are trying to do, is simply a different form of literature.
Yes, I could theoretically understand DFW if I had a free Saturday plus the motivation to sit and read his 40-page short story about radio talk shows. Or if I was very well educated on the subject, perhaps I would understand it better. Perhaps if I was simply a better writer and a better reader, I could see the nuances in his writing.
But the thing is, not everyone--in fact, most everyone--is not like that. Most people are not literary nuts, they don’t care about the nuances of radio talk shows, they don’t care about if literature is “good” or “bad.” They are simply trying to get through the day, drive home, try to enjoy themselves, and then wake up the next morning to do it all over again.
I think that’s why YA novels--the trashy, throwaway, simple plot, typical ending Young Adult novels--are so valuable.
DFW isn’t the kind of stuff for teenagers who are literally just trying to survive high school. They don’t have the education or life experience to read, process, or enjoy stuff like DFW was putting out.
They don’t want to analyze literature, they want to escape. They want to imagine themselves in different lives, sneaking through caves with a thane at their side or fighting on the deck of a pirate ship or flying through the stars or breathing underwater or falling in love and being loved. They want to see and do and experience so much more than the life they are living now.
So save your elevated literature and in-depth analysis for when I’m sixty and retired. As for now, I’m going to go read The Hunger Games and The Daughter of Smoke and Bone and Cirque Du Freak and The Fault in our Stars and Passenger, and I’m going to enjoy every minute of it.
tl;dr - There is a time and a place for canonized, literary literature. But there is also a place for stories that simply let you escape, and we shouldn’t underestimate the power of those stories.
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