P.G.O.A.T.s, etc.

From Filmmaker Magazine, the syllabus for the literature class taught by David Foster Wallace at Pomona College (spring 2003 semester): The Man Who Loved Children, by Christina Stead; Play It as It Lays, by Joan Didion; The Moviegoer, by Walker Percy; The Golden Notebook, by Doris Lessing; Desperate Characters, by Paula Fox; Giovanni’s Room, by James Baldwin; In Watermelon Sugar, by Richard Brautigan; Nightwood, by Djuna Barnes; and Speedboat, by Renata Adler.

I just read Play It as It Lays, and I'm pleased to report its influence (purely conjectured but undeniable) on another marvelous depiction of Los Angeles vapidity and decadence by a young Bret Easton Ellis. I used to think that Richard Brautigan's writing reflected the inside of my head particularly in A Confederate General from Big Sur. Now I'm not so sure. But the other books I haven't read and many I haven't even heard of. Is this the password into DFW's brain? Is this reading list the key to narrative breaks in Infinite Jest? Will the man behind the ellipses suddenly congeal into a human manifestation through hybridization of James Baldwin and Walker Percy? Please report any insights on the matter.

In other news, everyone who recommended Portnoy's Complaint, I hate you. Really, I'm so tired of reading about balled up kleenex and vaseline. You have no idea.