That's what I thought.

So I never got around to posting this, but "Ticket to the Fair" did a lot less for me than either "Consider the Lobster" or "Shipping Out." The conclusions it came to seemed a bit incongruous with some of the evidence presented (and I'm not sure if this is fixed at all in the presumably expanded version in a book). It was mostly that the "main population," i.e. the people who rode the carnival rides and didn't bring their own coolers so ate the expensive food and all that, were the cityfolk, but he attributed the fair's popularity in the midwest and the lack of fairs in the northeast to the isolation of vast farms. The arguments he presented in the other two essays I found much more agreeable and substantiated. While I may have quibbled at points, especially in "Shipping Out," that's more a function of any argument with the type of scope DFW aims for. Most arguments of that type (i.e. most "big ideas") are flawed by nature, by the complexity of the world and people.

But I guess that's jmo.

I recently read both the fair and cruise essays, and the fair one definitely wasn't as good as I remember. I couldn't exactly pinpoint what it was, though. It may have been something with him being over-folksy, but he also just seems plain mean at points. The cruise essay is still gold, though.

Yeah, I noticed the mean thing too. The moment it most sticks out to me is when he leans over to the carnie shredding tickets, and asks how does he live with the immense boredom of the job or something along those lines. It's like something mickey would do.

Srsly. He's only got like one empathetic moment in the whole essay, with the old man in the wheelchair. In the cruise essay, there are obviously people he doesn't like, but he's way more even-handed or funny-but-not-cruel about it. I wouldn't want to even have a conversation with the guy who wrote the fair piece; I'd pick his brain for hours over the cruise essay.

Agreed.

http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2011/04/18/110418fa_fact_franzen
A long but good read.

I haven't read this yet b/c it was subscriber-/FB friend-only for a while, but I know it caused quite a stir when it was published. If I have time I'll post some of the more vitriol-filled posts I've seen about it.

If you enjoyed that Franzen article (which I did, and don't think warranted the criticism it received on the DFW list serv), you'll probably find these interesting:

http://fivedials.com/files/fivedials_no10.pdf

Also, I'm looking forward to this:

http://www.uiowapress.org/books/2012-sp ... allace.htm

Rafa_Garcia PM'd me that Franzen piece, but I refuse to read it until he returns.

Also, don't miss this, edited by Stephen Burn, a really cool guy: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/161703 ... 1617032271

I really want to respond to this, but I just haven't had the time yet. Soon.

There's a big Wallace seminar in Providence this weekend; get excited, everybody!

November 6

something's bothering me. from 'e unibus pluram'



That's wrong.

Depends on the dog, really.

Glad to see you're reading that particular collection of essays, DK.

http://people.virginia.edu/~jrw3k/media ... .House.pdf

Never Forget