Author Archives:

“Westward” beginning/middle/end

Posted on February 9, 2012

I think my level of interest has a timer while reading stories like David Foster Wallace’s “Westward the Course of Empire Takes its Way.” At the story’s beginning I was very involved and enjoyed reading the in-depth character descriptions. However, … Continue reading →

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Family and misinformation

Posted on January 26, 2012

The family is the cradle of the world’s misinformation. There must be something in family life that generates factual error. Overcloseness, the noise and heat of being. Perhaps something even deeper, like the need to survive” (81). I loved this … Continue reading →

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Franzen “Why Bother?”

Posted on January 9, 2012

I understood Franzen’s essay as a description of the struggle the novel now faces. The end of the long paragraph on page 65 summarizes the questions posed in the essay: “How to design a craft that can float on history … Continue reading →

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