David Foster Wallace Sparking All Over Charlie Rose’s Desk
by Billy Joe Mills • May 1st, 2009 at 12:32 pm • 2 comments
I have not yet read David Foster Wallace’s Infinite Jest. I am not a well-read person. I am trying to change this and I have succeeded in recent months. I will read Infinite Jest soon. Wallace killed himself in September of 2008. Laura Miller wrote a beautiful tribute to Wallace on Salon. A recurring theme among Wallace fans is their ability to identify with him. He exposes himself. He exposes his insecurities. His father still teaches philosophy at the University of Illinois.
I mention all of this as an introduction to a video where Charlie Rose interviews Wallace. The video shows you his sparking mind and his insecurities. The interview struck me as incredible.
Comment by Allan Niemerg on 23 May 2009 at 1:55 am:
Truly Fascinating. Now I think I’ll have to read his books.
Comment by David R. Gilmour on 12 December 2009 at 10:52 pm:
David Foster Wallace, whose Broom of the System I have recently nominated as my book club reading for some retired gentlemen, presents himself in a very humble, humane, and highly intellectual manner. Charlie Rose does understand personalities well enough to show his–dare I say it–humility, his caring for psychic nuances, toward this very gifted, sensitive person. In America we do have to be careful who we make celebrities of, and many great writers and artists are ruined, one way or another, by the inordinate amount of attention and criticism we give to some and the excessive praise or adulation we bestow upon others, many of whose reputations and work don’t deserve the adulation. David Foster Wallace seemed a very genuine artistic presence in this interview with Rose. Very sad for America to have lost such a bright mind.