Report from Greg Carlisle:
Thanks to Sideshow Media Group’s publication of my book, Elegant Complexity: A Study of David Foster Wallace’s Infinite Jest, I was invited to submit an article to the Wallace tribute issue of the Sonora Review (http://sonorareview.wordpress.com/) and was one of six people invited to speak on two panels and read from Wallace’s work at a Wallace tribute event on May 1 at the University of Arizona Poetry Center. Wallace was editor of the Sonora Review when he was in the UA M.F.A. program in the late 1980’s.
Michael Sheehan and all the editors and staff of the Sonora Review were incredibly gracious, carting us all over Tucson for meals and generally being kind hosts. The other panelists/readers were Bonnie Nadell, Wallace’s agent for his entire career; Glenn Kenny, film critic and editor of Wallace’s work for Premiere magazine; authors Ken Kalfus and Charles Bock; and author/scholar Marshall Boswell (Understanding David Foster Wallace). My May 2 report of the event appears below.
Bonnie Nadell is amazing. She clearly loves Wallace, and the fact that the day-to-day handling of his legacy is in her hands is a very good thing. At one of the panels, she read a letter that Wallace sent her in 1986, asking her to submit stories that would end up in Girl with Curious Hair to various publishers. She drove eight hours through the desert with her family to get here and spent a lot of time at the pool with her kids. She’s on her way back now. One of the funniest things about the panels was her and Kenny laughing at how editors were scared to print Wallace’s articles, but then said they supported them all along after the articles won awards. They were not bitter or mean when they talked about this. It was just funny. Her reading of the Kafka piece from Consider the Lobster closed the evening readings beautifully.
Ken Kalfus had three stories published by Sonora Review when Wallace was editor. They stayed in contact afterwards, and Kalfus met Wallace once when Wallace invited him to do a reading when Wallace was teaching in Illinois. Kalfus’s book, A Disorder Peculiar to the Country, is just brilliant. Ken was determined to go on a hike today (a day of relaxation after yesterday’s event), and convinced Bock, Kenny, and several others to go with him. Ken read the end of “Derivate Sport in Tornado Alley” from A Supposedly Fun Thing I’ll Never Do Again.
Glenn Kenny is a delightful conversationalist and seems to know everybody in New York. He actually plays a part in Steven Soderbergh’s new film, The Girlfriend Experience, so look for that. We enthused about Roberto Bolano’s 2666 to Bock on the way to dinner last night and I think inspired Bock to pick it back up. I just spent over an hour sitting by the pool and talking about Wallace and other things with him. He is a delight to be around. You can read a lot of his anecdotes about Wallace on his blog. He read from “Big Red Son” from Consider the Lobster.
Charles Bock is intense and passionate and honest and gracious and funny. He read the section from Infinite Jest about the things you learn at a halfway house, and it was quite powerful. I had read pp. 105-109 (Marathe telling Steeply about fanatics and temples) earlier. I reminded the audience that in the world of Infinite Jest, the Marathe/Steeply conversation happened nearby and less than 24 hours before the reading event. Bock will watch Game 7 of the Celtics/Bulls game tonight with Kalfus in probable attendance and I hope to drop by and tell them goodbye before going to bed early (see below).
Marshall Boswell has been the champion of Wallace’s early work here. He was quite eloquent on the subject during the panels. Kalfus said he really enjoyed hearing perspectives on Wallace’s work from me and Boswell. Boswell gave a wonderful succinct set-up of “Westward the Course of Empire Makes Its Way” from Girl with Curious Hair and did a great reading from that novella to start the readings last night. Bowell and I walked to a used book store today and talked which was fun. We both have ridiculously early flights and must leave the hotel at 4:45am local time tomorrow, so I’m going back to my room now to read Sonora Review 55/56 and get some sleep.
Tags: David Foster Wallace, Elegant Complexity, Greg Carlisle
