Concavity Show

In Episode 46 we talk to Rhodes College professor and O.G. Wallace scholar Marshall Boswell about his new book  The Wallace Effect: David Foster Wallace and the Contemporary Literary Imagination , out now from Bloomsbury Press! As usual, we bash Franzen a bit, get some overview of the central novels addressed in Marshall's book, and discuss the recent trend of "Wallace Snark" online.    Contact Da...

In Episode 45, we get to talk to Kyle Beachy, Associate Professor of English and Creative Writing at Roosevelt U in Chicago, and author of the novel The Slide. In it, we discuss his extensive teaching of Wallace's work to creative writing students, his novel and writing on skateboarding, and get some great book recommendations from him (Kyle being one of the most well-read people Matt knows, which...

In this episode, Dave and Matt talk about their favorite literary and pop-cultural artifacts from the past year. This episode offers a contest as well, associated with the following music playlist. Good luck! TGC's Favorite Music of 2018 (iTunes) -  https://itunes.apple.com/ca/playlist/the-great-concavitys-favorite-songs-of-2018/pl.u-pMyll2jh4KoErM TGC's Favorite Music of 2018 (Spotify) - https://...

In Episode 43 we meet our nemesis Bo Butler of Pynchon in Public for the inevitable postmodern fiction podcast throwdown. Join us as we discuss the history of our beefing over literary turf and all related topics!

In Episode 42 we talk to Chicago-based journalist and teacher Esther J. Cepeda about her love of Wallace, annual Infinite Jest reads, and other related literature and pop culture. A huge thank you to our Patrons as well on #ThankYouPatrons day today!  Show notes:  Esther's favourite cards - Art of Play -  https://www.artofplay.com/collections/playing-cards   Esther's Twitter -  https://twitter.com...

In Episode 41, we talk to Dr. Tim Personn (in person!) from the University of Victoria about his recently-defended dissertation, "Fictions of Proximity: The Wallace Nexus in Contemporary Literature." Buckle up for a philosophical discussion, as Tim takes us on a ride through the work of Wittgenstein, Derrida, and other thinkers whose work informed Wallace's fiction and influence on the modern lite...

In Episode 40, we welcome Greg Carlisle, author of the Infinite Jest commentary, Elegant Complexity, and Nature's Nightmare, an analysis of Wallace's Oblivion collection.    Greg's books here:  http://www.sideshowmediagroup.com/books/   Contact Greg: g.carlisle@moreheadstate.edu

We're joined by repeat guest Matt Luter to talk about all the fun Dave missed out on at the recent Illinois State University Wallace conference, held June 7-9, 2018. Topics covered include panel recaps, anagram alter egos, karaoke highlights, and all other manner of conference scoops. Almost as good as having been there! 

In Episode 38 we talk again with Mike Miley, Vice President of the International David Foster Wallace Society and quiz kid extraordinaire. Topics include film, game shows, Oliver Stone, JFK assassination scoops, and hanging out with Michael Silverblatt.  Show Notes:  Smart Set – “Reading Wallace Reading” https://thesmartset.com/article08181401/   Medium – “Caught in the Bandana Trap” https://mediu...

In Episode 37 we welcome the Diversity Committee Coordinators from the International David Foster Wallace Society to talk about issues of representation in the writing of Wallace, and within the Wallace community itself. Relevant links:  Diversity Announcement - https://www.dfwsociety.org/2017/05/27/introducing-the-diversity-committee/ Diversity Blog Posts - https://www.dfwsociety.org/category/div...

In Episode 36 we have not one, but two special guests(!), both experts in the cartography of Infinite Jest's Boston (and beyond). William Beutler is the creative mind behind the staggeringly glorious Infinite Map (among other things), and Bill Lattanzi has led a series of walking tours in the Boston area tracing the locations of Wallace's opus, so you can see the emerging theme of the episode here...

In this episode, we stray a bit off our usual Wallacian course (but not too far) to discuss our literary and pop-culture highlights from the last solar revolution.  Links we said we'd share: Robyn O'Neil's 20 Years of Drawings:  https://www.archonprojects.com/shop/robyn-oneil-20-years-of-drawings Me Reading Stuff podcast by Robyn O'Neil:  https://www.robynoneil.com/me-reading-stuff George Saunders...

In this episode we're joined by friends Nick and Tony to discuss Australia's first ever David Foster Wallace conference, which was held in Melbourne during September 1-3, 2017. Following a discussion of the conference proceedings, join auxillary Concavityite Nick Maniatis as he interviews a host of presenters live from the conference weekend. Huge thanks go to Nick for towing his microphone around...

In this episode we talk with Allard about philosophy and film in relation to the work of Wallace, and to lesser extent, Dave Eggers and Jonathan Safran Foer. Dr. Allard den Dulk is Lecturer in Philosophy, Literature and Film at Amsterdam University College, and Research Fellow at the Faculty of Humanities of the VU University Amsterdam, The Netherlands. He is the author of Existentialist Engagemen...

In this episode we talk to award-winning Vancouver poet and writer Shazia Hafiz Ramji about her three consecutive stints as a guide for Infinite Jest online community reads (Poor Yorick's Summer, Sacred Jest, and the recent Ennet House), as well as her own writing and the influence of DFW. You can find her on Twitter at @Shazi_R Her chapbook is Prosopopoeia Poor Yorick's Summer on Twitter at @poor...

In this episode we speak with Matthew Luter, DFW scholar and author of Understanding Jonathan Lethem.  https://www.sc.edu/uscpress/books/2015/7512.html We discuss the state of DFW studies, academia, and Matt's paper at this year's DFW Conference. Matt's paper deals with, among other things, Rita Felski's work and Kevin Birmingham's book on Ulysses, " The Most Dangerous Book ." We also make mention...

In this episode we are joined by Australian Wallace scholar Grace Chipperfield of Flinders University, whose recent work on Wallace deals with the concepts of protracted adolescence and political landscape in Wallace's writing. The recent DFW17 conference and her experience there is also discussed, as is the possible vampireness of Australian politicians ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BmqKSKDfS...

On our first live episode (recorded in front of conference attendees at the fourth annual DFW conference at Illinois State University) we talk to Charlie Harris and Jim Plath about the life and legacy of Wallace, give some prizes away, and feature live music for the very first time on the show.  You can also watch the Facebook live video stream, which is archived for posterity, at the top of the p...

In this episode we are joined by Wallace scholar Lucas Thompson .  Lucas Thompson is the author of the new book Global Wallace (Bloomsbury) which is the first volume in a new series called "David Foster Wallace Studies" edited by Stephen Burn. Global Wallace centers around the often overlooked sources of influence on Wallace's work. Thompson explores Wallace's connection and borrowing from Manuel...

This time we talk to our friend Jill Braithwaite, a Wallace scholar who wrote her Masters thesis on Infinite Jest and its connections to the ideas of theologian Paul Tillich and Unitarian Universalism. She is on Twitter here .  Jill mentions a sermon she gave (in which Wallace's Kenyon speech makes a sigificant appearance), which can be found here . 

In this episode, we talk with Jeff Severs, author of the excellent new book David Foster Wallace’s Balancing Books: Fictions of Value , published by Columbia University Press. Severs is associate professor of English at the University of British Columbia, Canada, Convexity. Severs is also a noted Pynchon scholar, author of a number of scholarly articles and co-editor of a book about Against the Da...

This time, we talk to our friend Lee Konstantinou, a contemporary US literature scholar who has published significantly on Wallace. His new book Cool Characters  is available now from Harvard University Press.

As is the tradition, Dave and Matt take a minor detour (at times) from the usual topic of David Foster Wallace to discuss their personal highlights and favorite literary and pop cultural items of 2016. Show notes: 00:27 - The Nightmare: 2016 02:08 - Matt knows books, Dave knows everything else 03:29 - Phone addiction 04:02 - Personal years in review 09:52 - Go to the 2017 David Foster Wallace Conf...

  In this episode we speak with the multi-talented writer and musician Andrew Savage of the band Parquet Courts. Their song “Instant Disassembly” opens and closes each episode of our podcast, but more importantly, Andrew is a super-literate dude who is capable of expounding on almost any topic. Here is the video that Dave mentions of George Saunders’ appearance on The Charlie Rose show: https://ch...

In this episode with talk with Academy-Award winning screenwriter and DFW fan Nicolás Giacobone . Nico is best known as the co-writer of Iñarritu's Birdman and Biutiful, but he's also a writer of fiction and a serious reader. If you have not seen the movie Birdman, it is strongly advised that you do so. In this episode we discuss his grandfather's filmography, literary influences, Manu Ginobli, an...