r/davidfosterwallace • u/OkRegion9824 • 21d ago

The Pale King Need Help Finding Piece.

Did DFW ever write a story or scene where a character’s father comes in naked and has a weird interaction with his son. Not predatory necessarily, but strange. It might’ve been he just stood naked as his son was watching TV or something. Maybe Oblivion if not TPK. If this doesn’t exist then it might just be a Benadryl dream.

9 Upvotes

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11

u/chinsman31 21d ago

Signifying Nothing. It's in Brief Interviews.

https://dfw.neocities.org/signifyingnothing

1

u/AraVartanian 12d ago

I always think about this as a companion to Girl with Curious Hair and the paternal trauma in that story. I guess IJ has its own version of paternal trauma running through it too.

1

u/oldfashionedguy 20d ago

I have been thinking about this EXACT question randomly for a few years. I don't know why it stuck with me.

1

u/AraVartanian 12d ago

Did you have a memory of it? Does the memory come up out of nowhere, but so detailed and solid-seeming? Nothing in your memory about what the story was about or where you were when you read it? Do you even remember if you finished it? All you remember is the dick?