This Week's Special Read: DFW Still Haunts Us

It's awful that, only in death, the formidable literary presence of David Foster Wallace has grown to its deserving size. The melancholy writer took his own life in September and since, his legend (and respect for it) seems to magnify rapidly. We are rediscovering the talent, the wit, the boldness and the relevance of his writing. Even in Vancouver last week, attendees at the Vancouver Writers' Festival mourned the loss of our generation's greatest writer at a special event.

For some great vintage fashion and super discussion, there's a great conversation online between Jonathan Franzen (one of my absolute favourites), DFW, and a writer that's since disappeared into obscurity (OK, his name is Mark Leyner) on Charlie Rose. The writers talk about why they write, what they read, and the state of American literature.

In any case, this weekend I read McCain's Promise, otherwise known as "Up, Simba" or an essay in Consider the Lobster by DFW. It is a result of an assignment by Rolling Stone, which was putting together profiles of the presidential candidates (Bush--who is referred to in McCain's Promise as "The Shrub"; Al Gore, McCain, and someone else--I hope that we can forget Sarah Palin in this way) by non-political writers. Wallace followed the McCain campaign for a week but never made it on the Straight Talk Express. Instead, Wallace took notes upon "Bullshit1", the bus with network techs and other second-tier media folk.

"Up, Simba"(the original title for the piece) is a sizeable essay. In 2008, publishers have packaged in a book in very large print so readers young and old can learn about the integrity of McCain, but also the evidence that he's frighteningly right wing, and possibly crazy (or a robot). You develop immense respect for him also, when Wallace describes McCain's trials as a POW in Vietnam. It is astonishing.

Mainly though, DFW seeks to uncover the media processes that make a president. McCain's Promise is fascinating. It also makes you feel sad that all the promise that McCain had, as a dissident of the GOP - and generally a cool guy, has all but been lost.