Greatly Exaggerated
I have been working my way through DFW’s “A Supposedly Fun Thing …” and got to the essay titled ‘Greatly Exaggerated’ and the first few paragraphs talk about some of the recent last 40 yrs discussion on post-structuralism and the ‘Death of the Author’ vs., although I didn’t know it before a few minutes ago, the writer.
The thing with reading DFW on philosophy is that its like owning ‘Kind of Blue’. Actually, maybe it isn’t in the sense that I don’t know if it represents greatness in the form in the way KOB does but it does serve as an entre into the world of philosophy for those who aren’t interested per se in deep study of the subject but appreciate a little bit of it now and then especially if its introduced through a friend.
So, anyway, the point is that the ideas presented in this essay are better argued, more thoughtful, more resonant issues that my review of Sometimes a Great Notion touched on, grazed, glanced, etc.
That is, the difference between the author and his work, the connectedness thereto and how to think about meaning and significance between a creator and the created and whether they’re inextricably linked.
The point that I made (well, really it was more of a reference, I don’t know if anything was as well argued as a point to be honest) was that I was enjoying the book as a thing unto itself, separate and apart from the little bits of information I gleaned about Kesey and his life and his art which seemed uninteresting. It’s actually probably not the same thing or point that Wallace is making (because I’m only a bit into the essay) but there is a corollary which is the idolization of the creator and the fusion of the author and his work (ed note: actually, it’s pretty darn close. nice work, dude)
There are three possibilities when you realize that you’ve been heading in a direction that you thought was new or at least that maybe was somewhat original but then realize is well traveled, even has a McDonalds, an outlet mall, is the way to a big, well populated city. The moment that you’re clever charming little notion is revealed to be, perhaps, not so clever or at least not so unique.
One possibility is a sense of community and self-satisfaction (I’m smart and part of this club that includes other well known smart people), a sense of futility and unimportance (I’m not that smart, smarter people than me have been here before, blazed this trail, even commercialized this area to the extent that I’m nothing more than a tourist really, I’m almost quaint in my naivete and innocence, oh look at that poor little lost boy), or an ambivalence (I am Buddha, this is life, good things and bad things happen, this is my path, it neither refers nor depends on you or to you).
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theflyingchange
