As I admitted then, and am admitting now, I cried when he past away. Not because I knew him, and not because his books had profoundly changed my life (though, Consider the Lobster did make me rethink my relationship with food.) but because he was a writer who challenged me. It took me four or fives times to finally get through Infinite Jest (and I was glad that I finally did) and his other works often left me with an internal debate about suppositions made. Everything and More made me rethink my base assumptions about math and philosophy and that is a goodness.
Every once in a while, you need your assumptions rocked, or...you end up being a superficial douche.
I remember reading this piece in the New Yorker when it fist came out and I think it may be a fitting tribute to a man who left as many questions unanswered as he dared. Enjoy revisiting it.
Wait, there's something wrong with ending up as a superficial d*uche? So much for my life's work. Now you've rocked MY assumptions. :)
ReplyDeleteWell, Matthew, when I have my assumptions rocked, it turns me into even more of a Superficial Douche..."SD, That's Me!" shall be my new tag line.
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