Watch an animated excerpt of a long-lost radio interview with David Foster Wallace

Watch an animated excerpt of a long-lost radio interview with David Foster Wallace

PBS’ occasional digital series Blank On Blank takes excerpts of obscure interviews with notable cultural figures and pairs them with cute black-and-white animation. The latest episode features Leonard Lopate’s WNYC interview with David Foster Wallace in 1996, just after the release of Infinite Jest, while Wallace was still a professor at Illinois State. The video covers Wallace’s frank reframing of Lopate praising his youth tennis career—which influenced a primary location in Infinite Jest—and Wallace’s transition from sports into writing and academia. Take a look, if only for how Wallace takes subtle glee in his reputation as Grammar Nazi among the faculty.

 
Join the discussion...