CFP for the ALA
The International David Foster Wallace Society will sponsor two panels at the 30th annual conference of the American Literature Association in Boston on May 23-26, 2019. We are seeking submissions …
News
Wallace and Affect Theory: Emotional Pain, Empathy, and “The Depressed Person” by Ryan Kerr
Affect theory attempts to make sense of our emotions and their implications. Specifically, affect theory is aimed at understanding feelings that are “relational and transformative” (Flatley 12). We often feel …
Lost David Foster Wallace Interview from 1989
The great literary critic and scholar Steven Moore reached out to us this month to say that he had discovered an interview with David Foster Wallace in an obscure and …
How to Avoid being Totally Hosed: David Foster Wallace and Damien Echols
Written by Ándrea Laurencell Sheridan, Diversity Team Coordinator When I’m not spending my time diligently diversifying the International David Foster Wallace Society or teaching my seven sections of mainly introductory …
What’s The Opposite of A Cult Following? Sergio De La Pava’s Lost Empress
By Alex Moran and Diego Báez Sergio De La Pava’s career as a prolific author may not have seemed readily apparent when his debut novel, A Naked Singularity (2008), first appeared …
DFW Syllabus Project: Who’s Teaching Wallace? And Where?
Introduction written by Ashlie Kontos, Diversity Team Member I began searching for ways to incorporate David Foster Wallace’s essays into non-literature-based classrooms almost one year ago. I was needlessly worried that …
And Now For Something Completely Different: Writing From the Margins of Wallace
IDFWS Diversity Committee member Cynthia Zhang grapples with a beloved artist’s reprehensible behavior and the ramifications for a conflicted fan base. By Cynthia Zhang (cw: sexual assault and associated …
“Try to Stay Awake”: David Foster Wallace, the Political Media, and John McCain
Written by Mark Bresnan As the world reacted to the death of John McCain last weekend, David Foster Wallace’s 2000 profile of the senator was occasionally invoked— both in encomiums …
Join “The Empty Plenum” Reading Group
Wallace’s “The Empty Plenum” is one of his more challenging pieces of nonfiction. Lucky for everyone, Dominik Steinhilber has put together a reading group that’s going on NOW. Head over …
Listening to Signifying Rappers (1990) – Part 3
Finally, a playlist based on the rap tracks discusses –or at least mentioned– in Signifying Rappers. For the previous playlists, check out Sources of Rap and Breakthrough pre-rap studio music. …