by
Dave Eggers
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[...] The last horse I'd been on had bitten me constantly. This one just thrust his head rhythmically at the future.
just a cool phrase
I wanted to know that I wouldn't die like a bug, I said.
Sorry, he said. These men died, were embalmed, and have been stolen. People sold them again and again. Their every effect, their bones, were traded for gold. You'll be no better off.
[...]
If these kings believed, why would they hide themselves in these plain boxes under these heavy stones?
Ah, but they didn't believe, he said.
[...] Why did he feel violated? He felt punched, robbed, raped. If a soldier was killed and mutilated in his own country, this man would not feel this kind of revulsion. He doesn't feel this way when he hears about trains colliding, or a family, in Missouri, drowning in their minivan in a December lake But this, in another part of the world, this soldier dragged from his car, this soldier alone, this dead unbloody body in the dust under the trck--why does it set the man on edge, why does it feel so personal? [...]
relevant to my thoughts about terrorism I guess (also DFW's 9/11 essay). also on national pride and identity, "othering" based on nationality
[...] Chuck insisted on ending the letter with "I trust that this matter will not present a problem." Every legal letter Chuck writes ends this way. He loses half of his cases.
just funny
My mouth dried and I pretended to keep smiling. Why do we pursue information that we know will never leave our heads? I was inviting a permanent, violent guest into my home. He would defecate on my bed. He would shred my clothes, light fires on the walls. I could see him walking up the driveway and I stood at the door, knowing that I'd be a fool to bring him inside. But still I opened the door.
the narrator is on the edge of confirming that the girl he loves had a threesome with his former male coworkers
Sonora Review DFW Tribute
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multiple authors
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multiple authors
Sonora Review DFW Tribute
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multiple authors
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multiple authors
Sonora Review DFW Tribute
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multiple authors
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multiple authors
We published "Mr. Squishy" with the fake name, but I don't think we fooled anyone for very long. Dave had at least four distinct styles, maybe more, but "Mr. Squishy" was written in his most recognizable. (OK, acknowledging that this is ill-thought-out and incomplete, a stab at his four most clear-cut styles would be: (1) the plainspoken and fluid journalistic style demonstrated in his McCain piece (this is the style that goes down the easiest, and where his passions and opinions are most unguarded); (2) the ramped-up journalistic style of the cruise-ship piece and similar pieces of epic observation (these pieces have the more elaborate footnotes and digressions); (3) the humor-isolating and accessible style of Brief Interviews and the "Porousness of Certain Borders" stories; and (4) the dense, discursive, and insanely detailed style of his novels and certain stories.