David Foster Wallace on McCain
Does anyone remember his Rolling Stone article about his experience on the “Straight-Talk Express” in 2000? I sure do.
October 2, 2008 - Posted by Adam Kotsko | David Foster Wallace, politics
6 Comments
Sorry, the comment form is closed at this time.
Recent Comments
- adkriefall on Middlemarch Post #2 (Book One: Miss Brooke): Throwing Victorian Shade
- poc2666 on Middlemarch quotes
- poc2666 on Middlemarch quotes
- poc2666 on Middlemarch quotes
- poc2666 on Middlemarch quotes
- poc2666 on Middlemarch quotes
- Josh K-sky on Middlemarch Post #2 (Book One: Miss Brooke): Throwing Victorian Shade
- Josh K-sky on Middlemarch Post #2 (Book One: Miss Brooke): Throwing Victorian Shade
- adkriefall on Middlemarch Post #2 (Book One: Miss Brooke): Throwing Victorian Shade
- adkriefall on Middlemarch Post #2 (Book One: Miss Brooke): Throwing Victorian Shade
-
Recent Posts
- Middlemarch Post #2 (Book One: Miss Brooke): Throwing Victorian Shade
- Middlemarch quotes
- Am I afraid of the (anti-)epic journey ahead of us?
- Summer Reading Club: The Master and Margarita
- When I Grow Up I Want to Be an Old Woman
- Noble Monsters
- The Flamethrowers, a reader response
- Yumyum! Gothic Late Modernism
- Pushing back the schedule/ I so know Donoso
- José Donoso, The Obscene Bird of Night (1970): Reading Schedule
Categories
- 2666
- academia
- Awkwardness (the book)
- Blagojevich
- books
- bookstores
- boredom
- C
- Chicago
- comic books!!!
- David Foster Wallace
- Death Notice
- dreams
- economics
- family values
- Fernando Pessoa
- film
- Friday Afternoon Confessional
- Fundraising
- housekeeping
- IMs
- innovative technologies that shape our lives
- insomnia
- instant messaging
- language
- language acquisition
- life of the mind
- media
- meta
- Monday Movies
- moving
- Music
- observational humor
- politics
- Pre-Wordpress Posts
- public transit
- race
- religion
- Roman Empire
- shameless self-promotion
- Small Talk About the Weather
- Solidarity
- Spoiler Alert Thursdays
- squalor
- Sunday Stories
- syntax
- teaching
- television
- The Flame Alphabet
- the science of dating
- Thursday Take Down
- torture
- Tuesday Hatred
- Tuesday Quought
- Valentine's Day
- waking up in a cold sweat
- Wednesday Food
- Wednesday Workshop
- Wittgenstein
- Zizek and Theology
Archives
Adam’s Shared Items
- An error has occurred; the feed is probably down. Try again later.
Our motto:
"Get a job -- and some human rights!"Closely-related sites
An und für sich: an academic blog covering philosophy, theology, literature, and politics Mammoth and Mastodon: a webcomic, updated regularlyBlog Stats
- 628,282 pageviews
Feeds et al.
I read this article awhile back in ‘Consider the Lobster,’ where it’s titled ‘Up Simba.’ Great acount of the inner workings of a major American political campaign, but I wasn’t sure how to feel about Wallace’s willingness to emotionally fixate on McCain’s POW story.
Do you think it’s worth revisiting in light of the current presidential campaign, Adam?
Comment by Will | October 2, 2008
I actually think, in many respects, its a wonderful analogue to the Obama phenomenon qua phenomenon.
Comment by Brad | October 2, 2008
I felt strange when I took home “Lobster” from the library about 8 weeks ago and then came across the McCain article. I felt it peered so deep into the machine that I would not be able to deal with the rest of the election season. And then a few weeks later Wallace hung and I think of him everytime I think of mccain, like yeaterday morning as i pulled past the Truman library as Mccain set up inside to televise so near my new home. Peace be with us is all I can say.
Comment by false dawn | October 2, 2008
There was, somewhat recently, an interview with him, maybe in the nyt, maybe the wsj, about that article, in which he makes it plain that (a) it was written about, and after, a single week’s experience on the road and (b) he therefore wouldn’t say it still applies to McCain.
Comment by ben wolfson | October 3, 2008
He provides some explanation in the forward to Consider the Lobster as well. I think he said something like he didn’t mean it to be an endorsement of McCain. And, when you read it, he doesn’t seem to do that even though he also certainly makes the case for the kind of heroic stamina and strength McCain showed in Vietnam.
Comment by Rob B | October 3, 2008
John McCain killed David Foster Wallace. There, I said it.
Comment by strasmangelo jones | October 3, 2008