Subject
Re: VN and David Foster Wallace
Date
Body
EDITOR's NOTE. After Earl Sampson and Dustin Pascoe called attention to
David Wallace as a writer in the Nabokovian tradition, I queried the
latter about Wallace. Below is his response. Also, please note Dustin
Pascoe's query at the end re ADA, (I assume Wallace's _Infinite Jest_) and
the "encyclopaedic" novel.
----------------------
From: Dustin Coppock Pascoe <dcpasc0@pop.uky.edu>
To: Donald Barton Johnson <chtodel@humanitas.ucsb.edu>
Subject: Re: VN and DFW
Dear Don Johnson,
I don't know how much time you'll have on your hands this summer, but . . .
*Infinite Jest* is Wallace's best stuff; it's also 1079 pages long, and the
last hundred pages are "Notes and Errata." Brilliant, if Byzantine. His
first novel, *Broom of the System* is less satisfying, but still has all the
ingredients. Wallace does have a collection of short stories, *Girl With
Curious Hair*, but I've only read one or two of those.
Do you think (and I'll ask the List, if you feel it would be worthwhile)
that *Ada* qualifies as an encyclopedic novel? It certainly incorporates
philosophy and science, but isn't as all-consuming as some of the more
traditional examples. Thank you.
d.c. pascoe
David Wallace as a writer in the Nabokovian tradition, I queried the
latter about Wallace. Below is his response. Also, please note Dustin
Pascoe's query at the end re ADA, (I assume Wallace's _Infinite Jest_) and
the "encyclopaedic" novel.
----------------------
From: Dustin Coppock Pascoe <dcpasc0@pop.uky.edu>
To: Donald Barton Johnson <chtodel@humanitas.ucsb.edu>
Subject: Re: VN and DFW
Dear Don Johnson,
I don't know how much time you'll have on your hands this summer, but . . .
*Infinite Jest* is Wallace's best stuff; it's also 1079 pages long, and the
last hundred pages are "Notes and Errata." Brilliant, if Byzantine. His
first novel, *Broom of the System* is less satisfying, but still has all the
ingredients. Wallace does have a collection of short stories, *Girl With
Curious Hair*, but I've only read one or two of those.
Do you think (and I'll ask the List, if you feel it would be worthwhile)
that *Ada* qualifies as an encyclopedic novel? It certainly incorporates
philosophy and science, but isn't as all-consuming as some of the more
traditional examples. Thank you.
d.c. pascoe