"It is reality that awakens possibilities, and nothing would be more perverse than to deny it. Even so, it will always be the same possibilities, either in sum or on the average, that go on repeating themselves until a man comes along who does not value the actuality over the idea. It is he who first gives the new possibilities their meaning, their directions, and he awakens them."
- Robert Musil, The Man Without Qualities
"The truth will set you free. But not until it is done with you."
- David Foster Wallace
CLASS RULES ON PUBLIC DISCUSSION:
Anybody gets to ask any question about any fiction-related issue she wants. No question about literature is stupid. You are forbidden to keep yourself from asking a question or making a comment because you fear it will sound obvious or unsophisticated or lame or stupid. Because critical reading and prose fiction are such hard, weird things to try to study, a stupid-seeming comment or question can end up being valuable or even profound. I am deadly-serious about creating a classroom environment where everyone feels free to ask or speak about anything she wishes. So any student who groans, smirks, mimes machine-gunning or onanism, chortles, eye-rolls, or in any way ridicules some other student’s in-class question/comment will be warned once in private and on the second offense will be kicked out of class and flunked, no matter what week it is. If the offender is male, I am also apt to find him off-campus and beat him up.
—Syllabus for David Foster Wallace’s class “English 102-Literary Analysis: Prose Fiction Fall ‘94”
(via themadeshop, redhead-bouquet)
i found this through my new favorite blog (presidents) so much literary food to munch on! anyways, what an awesome...
“No truths about the form, content, structure, symbolism, theme, or overall artistic quality of any piece of fiction are...
“No question about literature is stupid… Because critical reading and prose fiction are such hard, weird things to try...
I wish DFW was still alive so he could beat up my high school English teacher for laughing at my questions and then...
i went to www.iwl.me to see whose writing mine most resembles, and i was matched with david foster wallace. has anyone...