Foster Wallace as his teacher at Emerson?! That part blew me away. fuck. that is so cool
Yeah, I had the same reaction.
I remember coming across a message board thread years ago, and the topic was about pairing up directors with their literary analogues. Someone paired up PTA with DFW. I've noticed the comparison elsewhere over the years, too, but I don't know enough about Wallace's work to thoroughly comment on the supposed connection. However, I have read Wallace's fantastic essay, "Big Red Son," which is about the pornography industry and his visit to the AVN Awards. He actually mentions Anderson and
Boogie Nights in that essay.
Also, I know that Wallace was an instrumental figure in the conception of "New Sincerity." The connection between this concept (which entails the creation of works of art that expressly refuse cynicism, detached irony, etc.,) and filmmakers like Anderson are pretty obvious, and this has been discussed in academic articles. Because of all of this, DFW and PTA have been vaguely linked in my head for a while. So, finding out that the former taught the latter struck me as both surprising and totally appropriate. A neat piece of information, for sure.
