This is Water

I still contend that this is one of the greatest speeches ever recorded; it is certainly one of my favorites. I have a (huge) soft spot for David Foster Wallace, and I am now halfway through his full body of work. With that disclaimer, (and I am sure this will not age well once I finish The Pale King and others) this is tied for the top spot with Consider the Lobster.

I am elated that this is in book form, and it should be read. But the real way to digest this in its best form is through listening, via the live recording. David Foster Wallace is able to communicate his message with his customary, almost impossible to describe but effortless to experience blend of colloquialism and incredible sophistication almost better verbally here, which is not the norm for him. His other recorded works, whether they be other speeches or long-form interviews are almost tragically hampered by his struggle with self-criticism and real-time verbal sabotage (the best example of this being his Charlie Rose interview). Yet somehow this speech stands alone as one of his greatest achievements, an honest distillation of the fear and perfectionism that daunted him, but turned on its head into a motivational and raw message that breaks through to the audience so incredibly clearly.

I think it took Infinite Jest, and Wallace’s other masterworks of great length and sophistication to fully explore the depths of his brain and flex his intellectual muscle. Once he had moved past that element of his writing, I’d posit that he became able to provide even more meaning in concise form, even purer, violent, more raw ideas to an audience/readership than he had before, but through a process other than intellectual contortion, one more subconscious. I come back to this speech incredibly often, and I hope you do too, and take from it for your own life.