3 ms·

Essay in the Times on this address: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/26/books/review/Bissell-t.html http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/26/books/review/Bissell-t.htm.

Essay in the Times on this address: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/26/books/review/Bissell-t.html http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/26/books/review/Bissell-t.htm... Nicer (IMHO) WSJ format of Foster's address without the extraneous stylistic emphases found in the Marginalia version: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122178211966454607.html http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122178211966454607.html "lords of our tiny skull-sized kingdoms, alone at the center of all creation" It may seem inconsistent but I find it nicely complements Will Ferrell's commencement speech at Harvard: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iVu8jfhcO9k http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iVu8jfhcO9k

rms 17y ago
This essay came up yesterday in response to a short PG essay. http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=781583 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=781583 The WSJ one is certainly easier to read and doesn't lose much but the almost excessive stylistic emphasis is what Wallace does; I'll talk the unabridged version. I do wonder if Wallace himself edited the essay for publication or if it was edited externally.
- rogerthat 17y ago
  Marginalia received a DMCA takedown notice for their original copy of the speech: http://www.marginalia.org/log/archives/2009/05/so-very-sorry.html http://www.marginalia.org/log/archives/2009/05/so-very-sorry... But in the comments on their apology page at the link above, there's a reference to a book in which the address was published with Wallace's permission, as well an interesting note about an edit that Wallace made to the speech before publishing it: An essay on April 26 about David Foster Wallace’s commencement address at Kenyon College in 2005, which has now appeared in book form as "This Is Water," misstated the speech’s publishing history. It was included in the collection "The Best American Nonrequired Reading 2006"; it is not the case that Wallace, who died in September, "never published" the address. The essay may also have left the incorrect impression that both of the following sentences in the speech were omitted from the text of "This Is Water": "It is not the least bit coincidental that adults who commit suicide with firearms almost always shoot themselves in: the head. They shoot the terrible master." In fact, only the second sentence was left out.

rms 17y ago

This essay came up yesterday in response to a short PG essay. http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=781583 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=781583 The WSJ one is certainly easier to read and doesn't lose much but the almost excessive stylistic emphasis is what Wallace does; I'll talk the unabridged version. I do wonder if Wallace himself edited the essay for publication or if it was edited externally.

rogerthat 17y ago
Marginalia received a DMCA takedown notice for their original copy of the speech: http://www.marginalia.org/log/archives/2009/05/so-very-sorry.html http://www.marginalia.org/log/archives/2009/05/so-very-sorry... But in the comments on their apology page at the link above, there's a reference to a book in which the address was published with Wallace's permission, as well an interesting note about an edit that Wallace made to the speech before publishing it: An essay on April 26 about David Foster Wallace’s commencement address at Kenyon College in 2005, which has now appeared in book form as "This Is Water," misstated the speech’s publishing history. It was included in the collection "The Best American Nonrequired Reading 2006"; it is not the case that Wallace, who died in September, "never published" the address. The essay may also have left the incorrect impression that both of the following sentences in the speech were omitted from the text of "This Is Water": "It is not the least bit coincidental that adults who commit suicide with firearms almost always shoot themselves in: the head. They shoot the terrible master." In fact, only the second sentence was left out.