Although I am probably straining the focus of this blog post to try and fit the blog question, I think there is so much value in David Foster Wallace's writing that this strain should be overlooked. The particular instance of Wallace's writing that I want to focus on is his essay on why video phones failed in the fictional universe of his novel Infinite Jest. The main reasons why I find this piece so compelling are that it is: funny, an essay found in a atypical place, and fictional. More specifically, I think comedy is a powerful medium that is often overlooked in academic writing. I think Wallace is an amazing writer because he placed an essay--usually published in journals and read by academics--in the middle of a popular fiction novel, and made it one of the most interesting parts of the book. Lastly, he did not perform any research about the video phone because the supporting arguments for his thesis are fictional. But he did research human nature because the observations he makes about vanity and stress seem accurate. To summarize, Wallace is a master of fictional research. To extend, in this research he uses an almost excessive amount of dashes as well as hyphens and he does it well.
References
Cugun, A. (2009). [Photograph]. Retrieved from http://www.flickr.com/photos/12505664@N00/3200604927/in/photolist-5SPWkz-e1vhqQ-9Z2bCV-6bZNxY-79dCa5-6AbArP-6ZtmFg-cLoe9E-e3so7n-6FUKYM-7cYkZg-6VzUQt-8FLqAv-6DfPYQ-7bYyWk-64qbTH-9Kejm3-bRMUwZ-6snXF8-9Ufq33-7D8oho-8LRSxz-6YNUMj-8DpYU5-arTWrU-8z7aKE
Wallace, D. F. (2011). Infinite jest. Hachette UK.
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