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YouTubeI've been reading a lot of David Foster Wallace lately and I've noticed he uses Ohio as a setting a lot. The Broom of the System is set in Cleveland and mentions the Ohio State Fair in a way that makes it obvious DFW must have gone to it at some point. One of the short stories in Oblivion is set in Columbus (I was happy when I realized this), and he mentions places like the Deaf School on Morse Road, the Scioto River, Olentangy River Road, and Upper Arlington. Usually writers write about places they've had experiences with - does anyone know if DFW spent time in Ohio and/or Columbus? His wikipedia page lends no insight.
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David Foster Wallace and Columbus
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isaacedwardleibowitz
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Posted 10 months ago # -
isaacedwardleibowitz
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As a side point, in The Broom of the System I thought the G.O.D. (Great Ohio Desert) was very interesting. For anyone who has not read it, in the alternate universe of the book, the governor of Ohio in the early 70s decides to turn a large portion of the southern part of the state into a desert of black sand because he thinks the people of Ohio are getting too soft.
Posted 10 months ago # -
GW_Justice
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Wallace spend most of his childhood living in Urbana, Illinois. He was a regionally ranked junior tennis player, so he would have played in tournaments in Ohio.
That's the only connection I can find.
Posted 10 months ago #
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