Good old neon summary

I couldn't help but relate to it in many ways. There was a basic logical paradox that I called the "fraudulence paradox" that I had discovered more
or less on my own while taking a mathematical logic course in school. But even in his overcoming, there is pride, even in his restraint, he finds ways
to lift himself up in eyes of those around him, to get there reverence and respect. The gulf between what is felt and what is communicated is often
demoralizing and isolating, and when we lose faith that the gulf can ever be crossed we feel deeply alone. Criticism of this collection has involved
attempts to discuss the collection as a whole, in relation to other work by Wallace, and as individual stories. Published November by Conjunctions
American literary journal. We hear his explanation of suicide as appearing to the person as the lesser of two evils, the jump instead of the
conflagration. A process that requires distance from a person for analysis, which hopefully results in a personal connection. Too late now for me to
somehow find a way to thank him for writing this story. The question the text seems to be asking is, Does Neal have options? I think your
conclusion is rather solid and made me think of the following from Kierkegaard's Spiritual Writings: Eszter rated it really liked it Oct 28, It is for
Neal the very gap between his own subjective experience of fraudulence and some idealized guileless state, which his self-consciousness
necessarily precludes, that defines his troubles. But we cannot overlook the darker aspects of the story. But then, before we've had a chance to so
much as begin to digest that new complication, Wallace adds yet another element to the mix: I want it to stay in here with me where I can nurse
them and protect them from oxidation and decay - I want them to stay noble. There are no discussion topics on this book yet. Its the narcissism a
person would confess to himself, the deepest level or that there are no levels to it and it is indeed,a pit-less of which is known only to him, and The
book is about the depth of narcissism a person can fall off to. Like that, and unaware of it. The characters speak at such great length of his plight,
but nowhere in the story does he attempt to reason that if he did something for someone else, or tried to understand someone else, he might have
felt less alone. That could be the shortest summary of it. Oblivion was published in German as two separate books, both of which were translated
in part by Marcus Igendaay and Ulrich Blumenbach. Nearly Indescribable in it's haunting beauty and honesty. I spent countless hours in the
laboratory of my mind trying to find a way out for this character, to find a hole in his logic. But maybe,at some instance in the story, we realise,
arent we all like that? Retrieved 27 July Join the Discussion dglen. Thomas Tracey asserts that, in "The Soul Is Not a Smithy" as well as many of
the other stories in Oblivion , Wallace seeks to "place the crucial events of each tale beyond the frame of the main exposition. It is this instance of
hyper self awareness that causes Neal to feel so alone. Henry Prize Stories Maybe, maybe not - that's not the point.

Good Old Neon

Well self awareness is the key, and this story is not very much unlike another classic named 'Notes from Underground' by Fyodor Dostoevsky.
Personally, I prefer to read this as a straight metafictional autobiography rather than some sort of plea for help from suicidal thoughts. The book is
humorous in parts, at the same time deeply sad and tragic as we see a person being driven to madness by his narcissism or merely his acute self
awareness of it? Jul 02, Rabeea rated it it was amazing. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. What goes on inside is just too fast and huge and
all interconnected for words to do more than barely sketch the outlines of at most one tiny little part of it at a given instant And we can argue
with him that we do in fact feel him, or we can take up the same argument with the author. What do I hope to find in their faces? It takes tens of
hours each month to provide this. Metacritic reported that the book had an average score of 68 out of , based on 22 reviews. Goodreads helps
you keep track of books you want to read. I just received the latest on-line Rain Taxi update, and went immediately to your report on the DFW
conference. But even in his overcoming, there is pride, even in his restraint, he finds ways to lift himself up in eyes of those around him, to get there
reverence and respect. Published November by Conjunctions American literary journal. I'm not good at expressing myself - intentionally so,
maybe, since thoughts and ideas and feelings and judgments and deductions and prejudices and biases all sound a little bit nobler when they're in
their owner's mind than when breathed out and given life. Who doesn't realize that the traps of the mind cannot necessarily be solved by the
strengths of that same mind, but often necessitates action. The New York Times. Is there an escape from the torturous self-reflexivity of self-
consciousness? Jon Yoni Kastner rated it it was amazing Jun 27, Nic Sharp rated it it was amazing Jun 22, The layer of self-consciousness applied
to his self-perception renders all possible manifestations of genuine self as mere appearance. Maybe, maybe not - that's not the point. My job is to
make some sense of it. It's an extremely complex workI'd even say intricateand it brings together an impressive range of thematic material.
Post was not sent - check your email addresses! Is there a part of an artist in all of their creations? Death, the narrator's ghost tells us, is a timeless
realm where all points in time are laid out before you. But it seems like an ugly process to me. We see Kate Gompert and think of him. Yet his
observation is also something Neal realizes, which makes him feel fraudulent as well for thinking he is special for feeling alone. David Foster
Wallace writes a story in which Dave Wallace, the character, attempts to empathize with an elder classmate from his high school who committed
suicide. Archived from the original on Arne Matthys rated it really liked it Jun 15, This is representative of the larger problem of trying to
communicate one's self through external vehicles be them actions or words. It's provocative and thought-provoking, and it leaves the reader to
wrestle with a series of inter-related paradoxes concerning the nature of language and identity, and how we use language to share our identity with
others. You can leave a response , or trackback from your own site. Views Read Edit View history. At the end though, I couldn't completely tell
who this sermon-like answer was for, the deceased Neal, the Reader, Dave Wallace, or for David Foster Wallace. The idea that a person is
constantly attempting to manipulate every situation and interaction for the greatest possible personal benefit strikes me as being very similar to this
idea of distancing from works of art, specifically literature. The sadness of the story can only be grasped once the reader immerses himself in the
world of Neon and become one with his vanity. So David's been dead for nine years now. You begin to first realize that the narrator does not rank
amongst the most reliable narrator in the history of protagonists. Retrieved from " https: London Review of Books. Autumn Gerard rated it it was
amazing Apr 29, The sadness of the story can only be grasped once the reader immerses himself in the world of Neon and become one with his
 vanity. University of Iowa Press, For the sake of simplicity, though, let's just assume for now that "Good Old Neon's" narrator is the ghost of the
character that kills himself at the end of the story. Retrieved 27 March In other words, the paradox can be solved with better language, which
would also seem to be the case with the narrator's problem: You are commenting using your Twitter account.

Good Old Neon by David Foster Wallace

Views Read Edit View history. In good old neon summary end, perhaps Wallace is saying this attempt is ultimately a hollow endeavor that leaves
the individual equally as hollow. Retrieved 27 March What goes on inside is just too fast and huge good old neon summary all interconnected for
words to do more than barely sketch the outlines of at most one tiny little part of it at a given instant And we can argue with him that we do in
fact feel him, or we can take up the same argument with the author. Consider David Foster Wallace. And you think it makes you a fraud, the tiny
fraction anyone else ever sees? The book is about the depth of narcissism a person can fall off to. It's unclear, and I'll explain what I mean at the
end of this post. It presented itself as a serious riddle, almost a paradox of life in which the only answer was suicide. But it is not that narcissism
that we encounter in daily lives of people. About midway through the story, Wallace discusses the Berry paradox, which in Wallace's characteristic
description states that. Newer Post Older Post Home. Please help make this sort of writing sustainable, either with a subscription or good old
neon summary one-time donation. Good old neon summary a Good old neon summary Cancel reply Enter your comment here It is this
instance good old neon summary hyper self awareness that causes Neal to feel so alone. Its the narcissism a person would confess to himself, the
good old neon summary level or that there are no levels to it and it is indeed,a pit-less hole of which is known only to him, and the hopelessness
of its condition apparent in his own self. This is representative of the larger problem of trying to communicate one's self through external vehicles be
them actions or words. Return to Book Page. I can think of countless less painful and less conspicuous deaths Furthermore, the protagonist
recounts the story of his demise into self-consciousness and insecurity that ruined his genuine enjoyment of the sport of baseball. The narrator, an
embodiment of the character Dave Wallace, written by the real good old neon summary DFW also tries to test the limits of language in its ability
to truly convey the speed and feeling of our thoughts. Throughout the story, Neal provides his psychiatrist with stories regarding his fraudulence,
deceptions, failures, and manipulations. Benjamin rated it it was amazing Apr 26, I think your conclusion is rather solid and made me think of the
following from Kierkegaard's Spiritual Writings: Really good essay on a perplexing story. You notice holes, discrepancies between his account of
the story, and its actualization. English is insufficient to wrangle with his thoughts on a precise enough level to satisfy his need to wrestle out the
paradox that wracks his existence. In other words, the paradox can be solved with better language, which would also seem to be the case with the
narrator's problem: Let us know what good old neon summary have to say: You don't have to play". We learn over the course of his tale that
Neal has always felt like a complete fraud, like he was only doing things to impress or please other people. With Neal it becomes clear exactly
how dangerous self awareness can be. Right after the car crash is narrated the narrator declares:. His narrative felt inexorable, driven to the
destruction of self by tight reasoning. A person who does everything with the sole intent to be the centre of attention, to have fame, to have laurels
awarded to him. Neal narrates as he looks back at his life, talking to an unknown person in a car, after his Neal's suicide. Horselover Fat rated it it
was amazing Oct 17, good old neon summary It either feels like a cheap parlor trick in which he feels insecure genuinely emoting so he must
qualify them by a hip good old neon summary, or the stream of consciousness goes back and forth within himself, fighting for genuine expression.
Further clouding the narrator's reliability is that he soon reveals how he takes pleasure in leading his psychiatrist around by the nose and outwitting
him with conundrums of life. It's called free will, Sherlock. Retrieved 29 April good old neon summary The inefficacy of language to express the
contents of our thoughts renders the acts of conveying to other people what we're thinking and finding out what they are thinking "a charade But at
the same time, the presence of so many paradoxesreally, so many instances of language breaking downreveals "Good Old Neon" as an
exercise in deconstruction, an effort to reveal the contradictions and insufficiencies inherent in such words as authenticfraudperformanceand even
identity. And the more of a fraud you felt like, the harder you tried to convey an impressive or likable image of yourself so that other people
wouldn't find out what a hollow, fraudulent person you really were. Retrieved from " http: And your modest appraisal of the presentations was
wonderfully refreshing. Logically, you would think that the moment a supposedly intelligent nineteen-year old became aware of this paradox, he'd
stop being a fraud and just settle for being himself whatever that was because he'd figured out that being a fraud was a vicious infinite regress that
ultimately resulted in being frightened, lonely, alienated, etc. London Review of Books. However I describe the ways in which this story might or
might not, who knows? Autumn Gerard rated it it was amazing Apr 29, The story is told from an narrator names Neal's perspective. Retrieved 27
July This entry was posted on March 10, at 2: Try as we might, I imagine most people found it hard to not read it in this manner, at least in the
earlier days when his death still broiled our hearts. Too late now for me to somehow find a way to thank him for writing this story. He stops that
endless loop of mind obsessed with itself by using that mind to notice others, to choose what to think about, but rarely to make a choice Sooner or
later, this story feels claustrophobic, until the end, when the door opens, when the story elicits within ourselves that burst of everything we feel in a
moment. You are commenting using your Facebook account. May 01, Alyssa rated it really liked it. The Rebel from Helena: