Brief interview with hideous man
B.I. #46 07-97
Nutley NJ
‘Alls I’m – or think about the Holocaust. Was the Holocaust a good thing? No way. Does anybody think it was good it happened? No way. But did you ever read Victor Frankl? Victor Frankl’s Man’s Search for Meaning? It’s a great, great book. Frankl was in a camp at the Holocaust and the book comes out of that experience, it’s about his experience in the human Dark Side and preserving his human identity in the face of the camp’s degradation and violence and suffering total ripping away his identity. It’s a totally great book and now think about it, if there wasn’t a Holocaust there wouldn’t be a Man’s Search for Meaning.’
Q.
‘Alls I was trying to say is you have to be careful of taking a knee-jerk attitude about violence and degradation in the case of women also. Having a knee jerk attitude about anything is a total mistake, that’s what I’m saying especially in the case of women, where it adds up to this very limited condescending thing of saying they’re fragile or breakable things and can be destroyed so easily. Like we have to wrap them in cotton and protect them more than everybody else. That it’s knee-jerk and condescending. I’m talking about dignity and respect, not treating them like they’re fragile little dolls or whatever. Everybody gets hurt and violated and broken sometimes, why are women so special?’
Q.
‘Alls I’m saying is who are we to say getting incested or abused or violated or whatever or any of those things can’t also have their positive aspects for a human being in the long run. Not that it necessarily does all the time, but who are we to say it never does, in a knee-jerk way? Not that anybody ever ought to get raped or abused, not that it’s not totally terrible and negative and wrong while it’s going on, no question. Nobody’d ever say that. But that’s while it’s going on. What about afterwards? What about down the line, what about the bigger picture then of how her mind deals with what happened to her, adjusts to deal with it, the way what happens becomes part of who she is? Alls I’m saying, it’s not impossible there are cases where it can enlarge you. Make you more than you were before. More of a complete human being. Like Victor Frankl. Or that saying about whatever kills you makes you stronger. You think that whoever it was that said that was for a woman getting raped? No way. He just wasn’t being knee-jerk.’
From Brief Interviews with Hideous Men by David Foster Wallace.
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There are 2 Comments to "Brief interview with hideous man"
Alls I’m saying here is that the writer of this incoherent piece of garbage needs some help. S/he needs to be stretched out on someone’s couch talking to them about why s/he feels the need to put in writing so much nonsense. Sheeesh……give us all a break.
It is a lot of detail…. but i think the author – a he – i presume David Foster Wallace, is known to add quite a bit of detail into his work.