It looks like you can write a minimalist piece without much bleeding. And you can. But not a good one.

Quote by David Foster Wallace

Topics: David Foster Wallace Quotes

The great thing about irony is that it splits things apart, gets up above them...

The great thing about irony is that it splits things apart, gets up above them...

Nuclear weapons and TV have simply intensified the consequences of our tendencies, upped the stakes.

Nuclear weapons and TV have simply intensified the consequences of our tendencies, upped the stakes.

This is so American, man: either make something your God and cosmos and then worship...

This is so American, man: either make something your God and cosmos and then worship...

This is nourishing, redemptive; we become less alone inside.

This is nourishing, redemptive; we become less alone inside.

This diagnosis can be done in about two lines. It doesn't engage anybody.

This diagnosis can be done in about two lines. It doesn't engage anybody.

The other half is to dramatize the fact that we still are human beings, now....

The other half is to dramatize the fact that we still are human beings, now....

This might be one way to start talking about differences between the early postmodern writers...

This might be one way to start talking about differences between the early postmodern writers...

TV's eal agenda is to be liked, because if you like what you're seeing, you'll...

TV's eal agenda is to be liked, because if you like what you're seeing, you'll...

The reader becomes God, for all textual purposes. I see your eyes glazing over, so...

The reader becomes God, for all textual purposes. I see your eyes glazing over, so...

Pleasure becomes a value, a teleological end in itself. It's probably more Western than U.S....

Pleasure becomes a value, a teleological end in itself. It's probably more Western than U.S....

The interesting thing is why we're so desperate for this anesthetic against loneliness.

The interesting thing is why we're so desperate for this anesthetic against loneliness.

We're kind of wishing some parents would come back. And of course we're uneasy about...

We're kind of wishing some parents would come back. And of course we're uneasy about...

Rap's conscious response to the poverty and oppression of U.S. blacks is like some hideous...

Rap's conscious response to the poverty and oppression of U.S. blacks is like some hideous...

That no matter how smart you thought you were, you are actually way less smart...

That no matter how smart you thought you were, you are actually way less smart...

I think TV promulgates the idea that good art is just art which makes people...

I think TV promulgates the idea that good art is just art which makes people...

What TV is extremely good at - and realize that this is all it does...

What TV is extremely good at - and realize that this is all it does...

To be willing to sort of die in order to move the reader, somehow. Even...

To be willing to sort of die in order to move the reader, somehow. Even...

I often think I can see it in myself and in other young writers, this...

I often think I can see it in myself and in other young writers, this...

Fiction's about what it is to be a human being.

Fiction's about what it is to be a human being.

The problem is that once the rules of art are debunked, and once the unpleasant...

The problem is that once the rules of art are debunked, and once the unpleasant...