This is just a little something for your Friday afternoon, if you have the time.
I know this is a rather long video, but it’s definitely worthwhile. It’s the author himself reading two brilliantly humorous yet thoughtful works. His style has a way of using humor to get past the heart’s defenses in order to communicate some deeper truth at the same time.
Of course, we now know all to well that behind his humorous approach was a fellow sufferer who tragically ended his life before its time (though every death is untimely), but while he was with us his “low voice” had an innate ability to “tremble into the hearts of men”, to borrow a phrase from Wilder’s Angel that Troubled the Waters.
It’s a shame and a real loss that he is no longer among us, making his keen observations of what we otherwise consider normal human behavior (which he shows us time and again is normal only in its prevalence, not in its inherent qualities).
That said, I’m sure if you do have the time this will make you smile and stretch your view of the human condition all at the same time:
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2 responses to “The Perspective of David Foster Wallace”
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I love these two excerpts! They are laugh-out-loud-funny at points, but also poignant, and I posted them on my blog right after he died. I've used the portion that starts at around 24:40 in a sermon too. "A Supposedly Fun Thing That I'll Never Do Again" appeared to (rightly) sell out in about five minutes at the conference.
Folks, if you have a minute, try watching this reading. You will not be dissappointed!
Good stuff, esp. the bit John references following 24:40….wow.