Concavity Show

  In this episode we talk with Wallace scholar Clare Hayes-Brady about her new book The Unspeakable Failures of David Foster Wallace. http://www.bloomsbury.com/us/the-unspeakable-failures-of-david-foster-wallace-9781501313530/ She is Lecturer in American Literature at University College, Dublin. We discuss a variety of issues in this episode including bad endings, DFW Studies, Ricoeur, love, Their...

In this episode we talk with John Mango. John is a teacher and a scholar but in this episode we talk a lot about recovery, AA membership, depression, and alcoholism--perennial DFW subjects all around. 01:07 - Twenty episodes in a year 02:02 - Introducing John Mango 04:01 - John Grisham paperbacks 05:05 - Joseph Heller, Thomas Pynchon, Cormac McCarthy 06:30 - A comforting loss and depression 08:30...

In this episode, Dave and Matt start by catching up about the recent photo caption contest winner and entries, Dairy Queen, Flannery O'Connor conferences, and the distinguished list of famous writers Matt has met. Then, our guests Amy and Rachel talk to Dave about their recent experiences reading Infinite Jest for the first time. 

In this episode we speak with audiobook narrator extraordinaire, Sean Pratt. Sean is the narrator of the 56-hour-long audiobook of Infinite Jest. He has also narrated over 800 other books. Believe it or not, Infinite Jest is not even the longest book Sean has narrated! We discuss the mechanics of recording, the different voices in the book, the endnotes issue, what it takes to become an audiobook...

In Part 2 of this episode we look back at the 3rd Annual David Foster Wallace Conference, held at Illinois State University July 28-30. We talk with a number of DFW scholars and conference attendees.  In this episode are interviews with Melissa Holton, Jane Carman, Emily Spalding & Josh Katz, Tony McMahon, Ryan Marnane, and Rob Short & Chris Ayers.  Last day for photo caption contest entries is en...

In Part 1 of this two-part episode we look back at the 3rd Annual David Foster Wallace Conference, held at Illinois State University. We talk with a number of DFW scholars and conference attendees.  In this episode are interviews with keynote speaker Marshall Boswell, Michael O'Connell, Jeff Severs, Corrie Baldauf, Matt Luter, Mike Miley, and Samantha Wallace.  Show notes: 00:00:45 - Recap of our...

In this episode, we talk with Pater Edmund Waldstein.  He is a  Cistercian  monk at a monastery in Austria and a David Foster Wallace scholar.  We talk about religion and morals and a number of other related issues in Wallace's work.  His blog is an excellent resource for his writing about Wallace and other topics:  https://sancrucensis.wordpress.com/ Pater Edmund is on Twitter  @sancrucensis

In this episode, we talk with Krzys Piekarski, PhD. Krzys is a DFW scholar who has written extensively on DFW and Buddhism. He also runs a wisdom program in Austin called Character by Design: https://characterbydesign.org/ We cover a variety of topics in this show, from parables to stress and boredom to the basics of Buddhism and how it manifests in Wallace’s writing.  The book Krzys mentions is a...

In this special episode we talk with Professor Josh Roiland and his class at the University of Maine. Roiland is Assistant Professor + CLAS-Honors Preceptor of Journalism in the Department of Communication and Journalism + Honors College. Roiland’s class this semester was called “Consider David Foster Wallace” and they read a TON of DFW work. As part of their class project, the students also creat...

In this episode we talk with Wallace scholar Rob Short. We discuss everything from AA & recovery to William James and summer camp.  You can follow Rob on twitter and academia.edu here: https://twitter.com/vismeainlabore http://florida.academia.edu/RobShort   Show Notes Urine trouble? You’re in luck! - 00:49 Rob’s academic background – 1:09 Wallace’s interview with SPEAK magazine – 3:15 Rob’s paper...

In this episode we talk with DFW scholar David Hering. Hering is the author of the forthcoming book David Foster Wallace: Fiction + Form. He's also a Lecturer at the University of Liverpool and editor of the book Consider David Foster Wallace. You can follow him on Twitter at  @hering_david

THE Q&A EPISODE In this episode, we finally get around to answering the questions you submitted in February. Listen to find out if we answered yours! We also mention this clip of Wallace talking about traveling to Italy: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mVzhhvCRTCo  If you haven't read Wallace on Federer, it's here:  http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/20/sports/playmagazine/20federer.html?pagewanted=al...

In this episode, we talk with Nick Maniatis, proprietor and webmaster of the invaluable website, The Howling Fantods. http://www.thehowlingfantods.com/dfw/  If you are a DFW fan, Nick probably needs no introduction, but we do ask him how the site came to be and how it has evolved over the years.  Be sure to follow him on Twitter here: @nick_maniatis  or on Facebook here:  https://www.facebook.com/...

In this episode, we talk about Infinite Jest (and lots of other things) with Jenni B. Baker, Editor-in-Chief of  The Found Poetry Review  and creator of the  Erasing Infinite  project.  Jenni is also one of the guides of the current  Infinite Winter  project. You can follow Jenni on Twitter  @erasinginfinite  and  @jennibbaker .

In this episode we talk with Wallace biographer D.T. Max. Max is the author of  Every Love Story is a Ghost Story .  We also mention his latest piece in the New Yorker  about a pioneering surgery for paraplegics.  If you don't follow him already, he's  @dtmax  on Twitter. Also, here is a WBUR radio interview with David Foster Wallace from 1996, which we mention in this episode:  http://radioopenso...

Chris Ayers designed a number of movie posters from James Incandenza's filmography. He posts his art and designs at  http://pooryorickentertainment.tumblr.com In this episode we discuss the upcoming 20th anniversary edition of Infinite Jest and the cover design contest. Head on over to  Poor Yorick Entertainment  to see the winning design and some other entrants. You can follow Chris on Twitter at...

In this episode we go almost completely OFF TOPIC and wrap up 2015 by discussing our favorite books, movies, music, TV shows, and games of the year.  We've collected some of the music recommended in this episode into this playlist on Apple Music . One artist who didn't make it on the playlist is Joanna Newsom, who doesn't license her music to most streaming services. But she does get Paul Thomas A...

In this episode with talk with Irish scholar  Tim Groenland , who has written extensively about Wallace and The Pale King. Groenland's doctoral work is concerned with authorship and the way Michael Pietsch molded The Pale King after Wallace's death. We also discuss Gordon Lish's editorial relationship with Raymond Carver.  You can follow Tim on Twitter  @groenbot .

In this episode we talk with artist Corrie Baldauf. If you haven't seen her Infinite Jest project, check it out here:  http://hyperallergic.com/178866/reading-david-foster-wallace-for-the-colors/ And follow her on Twitter!  https://twitter.com/CorrieBaldauf Show notes courtesy of Jordan Tibbett. Show Notes (00:00) - Intro (00:30) - Guest Corrie Baldauf (01:50) - Corrie’s Infinite Jest Project (03:...

In this episode we talk with artist Robyn O'Neil. Her artwork titled These final hours embrace at last; this is our ending, this is our past is the logo for our podcast.  See more of her work at  http://robynoneil.com/  or listen to her reading stuff on her own podcast called "Me Reading Stuff" -  http://robynoneil.com/me-reading-stuff/  She's  @Robyn_ONeil  on Twitter. Our podcast is  @ConcavityS...

In this episode, we spend most of the show discussing James Ponsoldt's film " The End of the Tour. " If you have not seen the movie yet, there are spoilers of a sort. Thanks again to Robyn O'Neil for her artwork, Parquet Courts for the intro song, and Jordan Tibbett for the transcript and show notes. Show Notes (00:00) - Intro (00:30) - End of the Tour ( http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_end_of_...

The Great Concavity is inspired by the debate in David Foster Wallace's Infinite Jest.  In this initial episode, we introduce ourselves and talk a little about what a DFW podcast might entail. Artwork courtesy of  Robyn O'Neil .  Intro song courtesy of  Parquet Courts . UPDATE: Below are show notes courtesy of Jordan Tibbett. A transcript of episode 1, also by Jordan is available here:  https://ww...