Recently read: Consider the Lobster
[Originally published at the now defunct group blog explananda.com]
David Foster Wallace. Consider the Lobster: And Other Essays
A collection of essays exhibiting the author’s characteristic range and depth: from a trip to a porn industry exhibition to meditations on the lobster to some (even now) fascinating reflections on John McCain’s failed bid for the Republican nomination in 2000. DFW trains his considerable intellectual firepower on these topics, with notable success. Without meaning to detract from DFW’s thoughts on these subjects, what is most remarkable to me about these pieces is how tremendously rhetorically effective they are. DFW was clearly a humane, decent person, but so are lots of people. What is extraordinary about his essays is how effectively he manages to communicate those qualities. One measure of how deft his touch is is how gracefully he manages to smooth over tensions that would be more apparent in the work of a lesser writer: acknowledging Feminist criticisms of pornography on the way to quickly setting them aside, for example, or somehow managing to be the unassuming, unthreatening dude-next-door while sending you to the dictionary more frequently than any other author you’ve ever read. Good stuff.
Comments
Author: Paul
Date: 2009-04-13
I was hoping this review would tell me that the lobster essay was his essay on lobster ethics that was mentioned in a recent NYT article, and that you were going to analyze the arguments. Is it, and can you?
Author: Chris
Date: 2009-04-13
It is, but I can’t. I love the public library, I really do, but unfortunately I need a book on hand to write about it in any depth, and I keep having to return books before I’m ready to write anything about them. That, and not laziness, is my cover story to explain the shallowness of these reviews.
Author: Paul
Date: 2009-04-13
Well, I don’t think your reviews tend to be shallow. I was just curious about this one essay. But now I know where to look for it. So thanks!
Author: Chris
Date: 2009-04-13
Some of them certainly are. In particular, I wince a bit when I think of the recent write up of Ahmed Rashid’s book, Descent into Chaos, which was such an awesome book, and sort of deserved better. Oh well.
Author: Paul
Date: 2009-04-13
I feel ya. Many of my recent posts have been a bit devoid of content as well.
Author: Anne
Date: 2009-04-13
Paul, a lot of DFW’s essays are online in various forms - more, since his death. I’ll see if I can find the lobster one.
Another book about lobsters that was recently recommended to me is The Secret Life of Lobsters. I’m told it is really worth reading. (Not sure if you’re interested in lobster ethics generally or in DFW specifically)
Author: Anne
Date: 2009-04-13
Also, Bottomfeeder is supposedly a great book for someone who eats seafood but wants to do so most ethically.
Author: Anne
Date: 2009-04-13
http://www.lobsterlib.com/feat/davidwallace/page/lobsterarticle.pdf
there it is, Paul. I don’t know if the version in the book is changed from this version.
Author: Anne
Date: 2009-04-13
http://www.thehowlingfantods.com/dfw/consider-the-lobster.html
A listing of reviews of Consider the Lobster (the collection). That site, the Howling Fantods, is a good place to find any DFW thing you want to find.
Author: Paul
Date: 2009-04-14
Thanks Anne! Looking forward to reading those.
Not sure how far I am from swearing off lobster, and I’ve done no research to date about their capacity to feel pain. (Perhaps a quick google search will reveal that they can’t.) But I’ve recently given up red meat (it’s been about 7 months now), and am just becoming more conscious of what I’m eating and where it comes from. Since I’ve never read anything by DFW, I thought it’d be cool to have this be the first thing.
Thanks again!
Author: Paul
Date: 2009-04-14
I guess there is still a glitch with the comments. Not sure why it seemed to go away for a little while last week.
Author: Chris
Date: 2009-04-14
Perhaps because I was posting so often? The comments update whenever there’s a new post.
Author: Paul
Date: 2009-04-14
Yes, it used to just dump a bunch of backed up comments in the feed when there was a new post. But then there would not be any new comments until the next new post. Yet last week it seemed to be updating comments as they appeared on the site, and doing so even without a new post. Guess it’s working aright was a fluke.
Author: Kegri
Date: 2009-04-15
there was an interesting podcast from quirks and quarks about this.
http://podcast.cbc.ca/mp3/quirksaio_20090411_14205.mp3
