Dec
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Literary Round Up
December 2, 2011 | Leave a Comment
Here is something I’ve had on my list to share with you for a while – better late than never. Enjoy this transcript of a brilliant speech by the late David Foster Wallace.
DAVID FOSTER WALLACE, IN HIS OWN WORDS
IN MEMORIAM
The world of letters has lost a giant. We have felt nourished by the mournful graspings of sites dedicated to his memory (“He was my favourite” ~ Zadie Smith), and we grieve for the books we will never see. But perhaps the best tribute is one he wrote himself …
This is the comencement address he gave to the graduates of Kenyon College in 2005. It captures his electric mind, and also his humility–the way he elevated and made meaningful, beautiful, many of the lonely thoughts that rattle around in our heads. The way he put better thoughts in our heads, too. (Many thanks toMarginalia.org for making this available.)
(If anybody feels like perspiring [cough], I’d advise you to go ahead, because I’m sure going to. In fact I’m gonna [mumbles while pulling up his gown and taking out a handkerchief from his pocket].) Greetings ["parents"?] and congratulations to Kenyon’s graduating class of 2005. There are these two young fish swimming along and they happen to meet an older fish swimming the other way, who nods at them and says “Morning, boys. How’s the water?” And the two young fish swim on for a bit, and then eventually one of them looks over at the other and goes “What the hell is water?”…
The complete text is here.
And…
Check it out, we’re famous! Galleycat wrote about us, or rather, they wrote about LiveWriters, which as you may know, is the site that hosts this little blog (and it’s truly a one-of-a-kind source for book related videos)…
LiveWriters Collects Literary Web Videos
Readers looking for literary-centric web videos can turn toLiveWriters.com. The site showcases videos spotlighting on authors and books of every genre.
Browsers can find everything from book trailers to recorded interviews. The site’s most recent videos features Chuck Palahniuk reading from Knock, Knock,Paul Zak discussing the origins of morality and Jeffrey Eugenides talking about his latest titleThe Marriage Plot.
Here’s more from the site description: “LiveWriters is home to video and audio by and about writers of all types and kinds, as well as news, stories, original writing – in short anything that matters to writers, writing and the future of our shared culture. And we believe in a good healthy dose of fun too. Participate, play, share, enjoy.”
In other news, our compatriots in bookish blogging are prolific right now. We’ve posted about the amazing tool for authors called Bibliocrunch, and our friends over at Writerscast have a new interview in their Publishing Talks section with Miral Sattar, the company’s founder. Listen to it here. Also, there’s a new post over at Booktrix, check it out:
Book?
I want to write a book …. How many of us have said that to ourselves, or out loud to our friends or family? I’d guess almost everyone I or you know has uttered these words at one time or another, or perhaps many times over our lifetimes.
Writing a book is a cultural milestone for anyone who writes one, and has grown to have tremendous meaning and impact.
It’s pretty common to hear people in the book business (writers too) complain that there are “too many books,” worried as they are that the bad will drive out the good, or at least make it difficult to find the good ones among the dross. I do not doubt that is difficult to find all the good ones, but I think finding a great book to read today is like falling off a truck…
For the complete post click here.