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There are these two young fish swimming along, and they happen to meet
an older fish swimming the other way, who nods at them and says,
“Morning, boys, how's the water?” And the two young fish swim on for a
bit, and then eventually one of them looks over at the other and goes,
“What the hell is water?”
If at this moment, you're worried that I plan to present myself here as the
wise old fish explaining what water is to you younger fish, please don't be. I
am not the wise old fish. The immediate point of the fish story is that the
most obvious, ubiquitous, important realities are often the ones that are
the hardest to see and talk about. Stated as an English sentence, of course,
this is just a banal platitude — but the fact is that, in the day-to-day
trenches of adult existence, banal platitudes can have life-or-death
importance. That may sound like hyperbole, or abstract nonsense.
1
A huge percentage of the stuff that I tend to be automatically certain of is,
it turns out, totally wrong and deluded. Here's one example of the utter
wrongness of something I tend to be automatically sure of: Everything in
my own immediate experience supports my deep belief that I am the
absolute center of the universe, the realest, most vivid and important
person in existence. We rarely talk about this sort of natural, basic selfcenteredness,
because it's so socially repulsive, but it's pretty much the
same for all of us, deep down. It is our default-setting, hard-wired into our
boards at birth. Think about it: There is no experience you've had that you
were not at the absolute center of. The world as you experience it is right
there in front of you, or behind you, to the left or right of you, on your TV,
or your monitor, or whatever. Other people's thoughts and feelings have to
be communicated to you somehow, but your own are so immediate, urgent,
real — you get the idea. But please don't worry
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>>7481573
>IMPORTANT THINGS AREN'T THOUGHT ABOUT!
>PERCEPTION IS SELF CENTERED!
>LET ME STATE THE OBVIOUS BUT USE AN ABSTRACT FORM OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE TO MAKE IT SEEM INTELLECTUAL AS THE READER DECIPHERS WHAT I AM TRYING TO CONVEY!
Pretentious as fuck.
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>mfw "this is water" has become in itself a banal platitude
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>>7481573
Isn't it pathetic how he lied about not reading Pynchon when really he read and studied Pynchon to the letter in order to write Broom of the System and Infinite Jest?
All in all, I appreciate this speech. I think about it every time I am shopping actually. I'm really skeptical about his "philosophy" going beyond basic tricks like this though. Everything he writes and every interview I've heard him gives just makes him sound like just an undergraduate pleb, philosophically speaking. I don't think he went very far into philosophy in general despite graduating in it. In his literature he has a namedrop or two but nothing substantial. Like, not ever. I mean I don't expect a writer to clutter up your text with philosophy, because generally that's ugly, but this is DFW we're talking about here and he has, to say the least, no qualms about uglifying his text with technical digressions.
His social views sounds like dumbed down Baudrillard. I'd put ten thousand yen on that actually. The meme interview is all Baudrillard strained through his sweaty, regular-guy filter. I hate it more and more but somehow I can't look away...
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>>7481753
do you have the interview or reference to where he said he never read pynchon? that's actually hilarious. (not your claim, but his claim that he didn't)
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>>7481753
>I don't think he went very far into philosophy in general despite graduating in it.
I think he only focused on and excelled in logic when studying philosophy, and didn't really pay attention to other areas.
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>>7481755
The only instance of this I've heard is that he hadn't read Pynchon in eight years. You've been rused by some /lit/ memefucks.
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>>7481760
hey, take it up with the guy directly above me, i wanted the source immediately, so really i wouldnt call myself rused, but more doubtful and amused by the idea.
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>>7481753
I mean he must've got somewhat far into philosophy if he was attending harvard for a phd while also having a philosophy professor for a dad. I don't know much though
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>>7481755
I'm not going to find it now, but it is in an interview with a Boston radio station on YouTube. Look for it. He gets a question about Lot 49 and says he hasn't read it. Also in the D. T. Max bio it clearly says he lied about not reading Lot 49 in a letter to an editor.
Read the bio sometime, because you will pick up on all the lies he tells about himself. He's a writer after all. I think this is partly what he meant when he called himself a fraud in Oblivion. Partly or mostly. He hates to credit his real influences. I'm projecting/sympathizing a bit because I sort of do as well, so. But yeah.
>>7481773
It depends. He quit after a few weeks too. He was also already more interested in fiction for at least half his time as an undergrad.
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No he claimed repeatedly that he hadnt read Lot 49 before writing broom of the system, which his college friends say wasnt true.
Around the time infinite jest came out he said he thought pynchons first three books were great but vineland was bad but in any case thought pynchon's cultural commentary was shallow and that he wasnt all that relevant anymore. He called him 'old-fashioned' in one interview and 'commercial avant-garde' in another.
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I work at a Safeway and I always think about how he described the voice of a cashier as being the voice of death. It has motivated me to try to be as nice as I can to all but the cuntiest of customers.
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>>7482760
>this, DFW's lasting influence with that commencement speech will be to make everyone a bit more conscious of--and therefore improve a little--the shopping experience.
In all honesty, not a bad legacy.
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>>7482847
DFW is the patron saint of grocery baggers
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>>7481638
is life difficult when youre constantly on guard against even the NOTION that someone might be showing you something new, novel, or original?
do you feel the need to tear apart everything in your life even remotely cliche?
DFW was attempting to convey an important lesson on mindfulness, the resting state of the mind, etc. at no point did he suggest that what he was saying was original (actually, in complete opposition to that he refers to a story which is not his) or even intellectual
hes actually extremely straight forward, im not sure what "abstract form of the english language" you think hes using.
and its a fucking COMMENCEMENT SPEECH you mong, its meant to state the obvious
jesus christ the people on this board can be insufferable
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>tfw I will never be sincere
why live lads
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>>7481573
but why he´s not the wise old fish?
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>>7483114
sincerity isn';t even possible my man, even those new sincerity fags are posturing. just accept insincerity as the natural state of man
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>>7483144
He is.he was being insincere
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>>7481573
i miss him man.
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>>7483093
The insufferable ones are those who have taken DFW to be their 21st century Jesus, of which "This Is Water" is for some reason considered his Sermon on the Mount.
He's also the king of backtracking, which I guess can be a cute stylistic device as a writer, but for someone offering moral advice, it's offering very little in the end.
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>>7483239
actually he suggested very moral practical methods to dissolve the mundande banality of 1st world life
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>>7483242
>mundande banality
god.
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>>7483256
attack of the killer pleonasms.
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>>7481573
ideology which really works never perceives itself as ideology and so on yes of course
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>>7481753
He said repeatedly times that he did read Pynchon.
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>>7481652
is that axl rose? Im new here
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>>7482760
Which is really just plagiarized from Delillo. Read White Noise and you'll know what I'm talking about.
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