Today would have been David Foster Wallace’s 50th birthday, and we think it’s safe to say that the entire literary world misses him dearly. Wallace has some of the most rabid fans of any author — poring over details, reading hundreds of pages of endnotes over and over, latching onto every piece of lore and scrap of ephemera, building photo tours of all the Boston buildings mentioned in Infinite Jest. If you need proof, just look at how many posthumous works on or by Wallace have cropped up in the relatively few years since his death (another book of unpublished essays is due out this fall). Many of these DFW enthusiasts have even gone the extra mile and tattooed the author’s words, or representations thereof, onto their bodies, cementing their connection to the luminous figure for all time. We can’t say we blame them. Click through to check out the DFW-related ink on some very devoted fans, and, if you’ve got ‘em, let us know about your own literary tattoos in the comments.
The title of Wallace’s famous 2005 Commencement speech at Kenyon College. [via]
Comments (10)
*poring
All these should say this at the end:
‘I’m a sheep, moo moo moo’
It is a mark of poor scholasticism when the best you can do of a man’s teachings is scrawl them on your own body because you think that means internalization.
“write it on your heart”
Since we are such forgetful creatures, having that which inspires and guides us so close at all times, seems a wise idea. Unless it just becomes ” water” I suppose; although, having to explain the tattoo to others would probably prevent that from happening.
I’m a bit horrified that the “…” tattoo uses footmarks instead of proper quotation marks.
Also, Cranston, I think sheep say “baa” and cows say “moo.” Although maybe you’re making a point about a sheep who wants to be a cow.
i don’t get the meaning of tattooing on your body the words of a writer like wallace and then posting the photo on line… really, i don’t get it.
I don’t get it either, but then I don’t get (for lack of better term) tattoos. What I find more off putting though are knee jerk smug comments, like those of Cranston, that presume intent and intellect from a single image.
It’s a mark of poor criticism.
Did you know that tattooing is an ancient tradition in Polynesia?
In New Zealand we have the Maori tradition of tattooing which is utterly fascinating and complex. It is more like a process of skin engraving than anything else. The skin is carved.
By the way, currently, more women than men receive tattoos in New Zealand.
We are a nation of brilliantly marked people. Come and see!
Hmmm…maybe Emily Temple looked up the definition of “awesome” in her dictionary and accidentally confused it with its antonym? At this point in our collective cultural (Western–sorry, Ron) history, tattoos are pretty pathetic in general; but these, specifically and particularly, suck. Except for the happy foot/sad foot. Those two were sorta funny.
Gee, Cranston, you must be a mentalist, knowing what these people’s intentions were when they got their tattoos. You’re also familiar with everything they have done in their lives regarding the works of DFW as you know that said tattoos are “the best they can do” with his “teachings.”
I do imagine, though, that everything you do in life, including the ways you outwardly express yourself, down to the gap khakis and polo shirts you wear, is shockingly original. Especially considering the sheep in your mind say “moo.”
I have the last line from DFW’s ‘Good Old Neon’ tattooed on my left forewarm, for myriad reasons.
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