WARNING: THIS BLOG POST WILL SPOIL WITH IMPUNITY FROM PAGE 211 IN THE 20TH ANNIVERSARY EDITION UP TO THE 8 NOVEMBER MARK ON PAGE 321 IN THE 20TH ANNIVERSARY EDITION. SAVE THIS BLOG POST UNTIL YOU’VE GOTTEN AT LEAST THAT FAR INTO THE NOVEL, IF YOU’RE PLANNING ON READING ALONG. Infinite Jest, 20th Anniversary Edition…
from 109 (3 November Y.D.A.U.) to the section break on 211 I come to Infinite Jest having read Wallace’s “This is Water” speech, assorted essays from his two essay collections, and his story collection Brief Interviews with Hideous Men. If an author’s work teaches you how to read his or her fiction, as I believe…
WARNING: THIS BLOG POST WILL SPOIL WITH IMPUNITY UP TO THE SECTION TITLED “3 NOVEMBER Y.D.A.U.” (PAGE 109 IN THE 20TH ANNIVERSARY EDITION.) SAVE THIS BLOG POST UNTIL YOU’VE GOTTEN AT LEAST THAT FAR INTO THE NOVEL, IF YOU’RE PLANNING ON READING ALONG. Infinite Jest, 20th Anniversary Edition Right out of the gate Infinite Jest…
Hey Humanists! This summer we’ve got another read-through for you, our first attempt to go through a novel together. Nathan Gilmour and some of his colleagues at Emmanuel College (and possibly a student or two, but we’ll see on that one) are starting–not for the first time in some of our cases–David Foster Wallace’s 1996…
Nathan Gilmour discusses a chapter of Martha Nussbaum’s Cultivating Humanity with Michial Farmer and David Grubbs.
David Grubbs leads Nathan Gilmour and Michial Farmer in the first of three discussions of Jedediah Purdy’s 1999 book For Common Things.
Download or Stream this Episode David Grubbs leads a discussion with Michial Farmer and Danny Anderson about Lionel Trilling’s 1961 essay “On the Teaching of Modern Literature.”
Download or Stream this Episode “This Is Water” transcript “This Is Water” on YouTube Danny Anderson chats with David Grubbs and Nathan Gilmour about David Foster Wallace’s graduation speech “This Is Water.” N.B. The sound quality towards the end of the episode goes downhill in a hurry. Blame Gilmour.
A few months ago, I got into an argument with a friend of mine about Google’s new driverless car. I’m much less optimistic about technology than he is, and I couldn’t share his enthusiasm about this new technological marvel. All I could think of was the tens of thousands of professional drivers—taxis and buses and…
General Criticism – Dr. David Grubbs! – Listener feedback – Lewis as gateway drug – The Christian Feminist Podcast – Swearing on the podcast! Brave New World or 1984? – Government and culture – Television as soma – Unintelligible promiscuity Material Conditions – MTV and the rise of cable television – The home computer –…
General Introduction – A bunch of listener feedback – Nathan defends the dark ages – Is country music rural? – More on metamodernism – Signifying rappers with David Foster Wallace – Episodes on spiritual disciples? – David Godot The Gay Science – Translating fröliche – Shattering boundaries – Nietzsche and homosexuality – The dismal science…
General Introduction – Listener feedback – We talk about Mike Tyson for awhile What Is Postmodernism? – Modernism without the anxiety – Incredulity toward metanarratives – Playfulness and literary production – Local subjective truths – Ontology, not epistemology – Historicism in biblical studies – Postmodernist architecture – Whose metamodernism? – Smiling nihilism Postmodern Irony –…
General Introduction – We’re back—at least some of us are – Introducing Danny Anderson – The Christian Humanist Empire expands – Listener feedback The Generation Gap – The history of teenagers – The widening of the gap – Earlier generation gaps – Technological speed – Marketing and separate worlds – The ‘20s and the ‘60s…