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Farther Away: “Robinson Crusoe,” David Foster Wallace, and Solitude (2011)

55 points by Thevet 6y ago

alextheparrot 6y ago
> Apparently, all it took for me to become aware of the emptiness of life and the horror of existence was to be deprived of human company for a few hours > What had been missing was some halfway secure sense of my own identity, a sense achieved in solitude by putting first-person words on a page For anyone looking to understand themselves, I'd recommend backpacking alone. There's a certain sense of self-certainty that solitude brings that this author clearly has identified. So much of modern society is based on the same architectural principle perfected by tipis - relationships and institutions all canceling out forces that would pin us to the ground. I don't regret this being my primary experience, but I would regret not knowing that I can also stand alone - at least for a short time.
- watwut 6y ago
  I spent few years as stay at home, was alone (not counting kid) majority of that time and it did not bought any self-certainity. Being alone all the time for long pins you to ground quite a lot too.
ordinaryradical 6y ago
This is a must-read for any DFW fan. It also explores, in a profound way, what happens to the people left behind from a suicide. Heart-rending, and complex, but very much worth your time.
wombatmobile 6y ago
The banishment of Alexander Selkirk is actually a story from within a story. The outer story is told in Fleming Macliesh and Martin L. Krieger's 1962 book Fabulous Voyage. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/43457686-fabulous-voyage https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/43457686-fabulous-voyage Fabulous Voyage is an odyssey reconstructed from Woodes Rogers' A Cruising Voyage Round The World and Edward Cooke's A Voyage to the South Sea, both published in London in 1712, and the writings of William Dampier published in various volumes between 1697 and 1701. British privateers fund the ambitious pursuit of an elusive Spanish galleon that shuttled treasures on the high seas between Manilla and Acapulco. The 5 year hunt is a thrilling romp in which the avarice and greed are tempered by character and guile, as an unlikely collection of men match their wits with and against each other and the unpredictable forces of the high seas. Selkirk's falling out and banishment, which lead to his exile on an island, possibly Masafuera, is but one branch of this adventure. The pursuit of the Spanish Galleon is a deeply engaging a tale which informs us as richly about late 16th century international commerce, law and social hierarchy as Defoe's book did contemplate an individual's propensities of introspection and character.

55 points by Thevet 6y ago

> Apparently, all it took for me to become aware of the emptiness of life and the horror of existence was to be deprived of human company for a few hours > What had been missing was some halfway secure sense of my own identity, a sense achieved in solitude by putting first-person words on a page For anyone looking to understand themselves, I'd recommend backpacking alone. There's a certain sense of self-certainty that solitude brings that this author clearly has identified. So much of modern society is based on the same architectural principle perfected by tipis - relationships and institutions all canceling out forces that would pin us to the ground. I don't regret this being my primary experience, but I would regret not knowing that I can also stand alone - at least for a short time.

watwut 6y ago
I spent few years as stay at home, was alone (not counting kid) majority of that time and it did not bought any self-certainity. Being alone all the time for long pins you to ground quite a lot too.

ordinaryradical 6y ago

This is a must-read for any DFW fan. It also explores, in a profound way, what happens to the people left behind from a suicide. Heart-rending, and complex, but very much worth your time.

wombatmobile 6y ago

The banishment of Alexander Selkirk is actually a story from within a story. The outer story is told in Fleming Macliesh and Martin L. Krieger's 1962 book Fabulous Voyage. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/43457686-fabulous-voyage https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/43457686-fabulous-voyage Fabulous Voyage is an odyssey reconstructed from Woodes Rogers' A Cruising Voyage Round The World and Edward Cooke's A Voyage to the South Sea, both published in London in 1712, and the writings of William Dampier published in various volumes between 1697 and 1701. British privateers fund the ambitious pursuit of an elusive Spanish galleon that shuttled treasures on the high seas between Manilla and Acapulco. The 5 year hunt is a thrilling romp in which the avarice and greed are tempered by character and guile, as an unlikely collection of men match their wits with and against each other and the unpredictable forces of the high seas. Selkirk's falling out and banishment, which lead to his exile on an island, possibly Masafuera, is but one branch of this adventure. The pursuit of the Spanish Galleon is a deeply engaging a tale which informs us as richly about late 16th century international commerce, law and social hierarchy as Defoe's book did contemplate an individual's propensities of introspection and character.