Tag: david-foster-wallace
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Our Self-Centered ‘Default’ Worldview: DFW’s Commencement Address
Recent talk of the correspondence bias (here) reminded me of possibly the best commencement speech that I’ve not yet written about (and I’ve written about quite a few): David Foster Wallace’s commencement address to the graduates of Kenyon College in 2005. The speech, often cited as Wallace’s only public talk concerning his worldview, was adapted following…
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Grammar Precisionists, Rejoice!
Jason points to a 10-question grammar challenge given to the students of a non-fiction workshop held by David Foster Wallace. It’s not a particularly easy challenge, made worse by the fact that my non-native English speaking girlfriend just beat my score comprehensively (this wasn’t a difficult feat, however). The answers are provided, and I particularly…
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Art Direction for David Foster Wallace’s Books
Marie Mundaca on her art direction for a number of David Foster Wallace’s books: It’s a little odd to design interiors for fiction and literary non-fiction. It’s just text—what is there to do? There are the obvious things, like leaving enough space at the margins. Basically, the designer’s job is to pick a font that…
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Growing Sentences
How to develope sentences in the style of David Foster Wallace (visit Jason’s post to see an example of how powerful this can be for prose): Begin with an idea, a string of ideas. Use them in a compound sentence. Add rhythm with a dependent clause. Elaborate using a complete sentence as interrupting modifier. Append…