Brief Interviews with Hideous Men by David Foster Wallace

Thus, for purposes of clarity, I will most often refer to Sarah's story as if it has been faithfully and accurately rendered, with acknowledgment that this issue is a problematic one in the text.ģ This implied narrator who shapes the partial interview into story may be reasonably read as the interviewer or as another outside entity. I will note instances where Eric's narration has intruded on Sarah's story that are relevant to this discussion, but it should be understood that a thorough examination of how Eric's narration affects Sarah's story, while entirely valid, is not the focus here. #20”-the unseen narrator's construction of the story's boundaries and the white space signifying the interviewer's speech being the only indicators of other perspective-the reader is forced to determine what in Eric's relation counts as a faithful retelling of Sarah's story and what intrusion or commentary may originate from Eric. For purposes of clarity, I have decided to use their names in this discussion, with acknowledgment that this use does a certain disservice to the text.Ģ Because Eric's voice is the only overt one in “B.I. Additionally, an earlier version of this story, published in The Paris Review as Interview “#6,” contained this opening: “ E- on ‘How and Why I Have Come to be Totally Devoted to S- and Have Made Her the Linchpin and Plinth of My Entire Emotional Existence.’” While it seems clear that Wallace intended these characters to be named Eric and Sarah, and while their names have relevant relationship to this discussion of rape culture, it is equally clear that their unnamed status throughout the story is important. In their context, it is difficult to interpret these names as anything but directly referential to the interviewee and his subject.

Eric Drag Sarah To Teepee By Hair” (Wallace 312–13). However, the interviewee himself identifies both of their names late in the story when he responds directly to what he perceives as the interviewer's judgment of him: “Now I'm sure you know what I'm talking about now.

#20” Wallace does not identify by name the man being interviewed or the woman he describes.

Brief Interviews with Hideous Men by David Foster Wallace