- DFW talked in a few interviews about how the hardest thing about teaching undergrads is that you have to wake them up from the βexpressiveβ mode that theyβre used to from high school
- That is, from high school, they receive the feedback of βthis is good! This is good, because you wrote itβ
- Whereas, as a college student, you have to realise that βitβs not just good because you wrote it.β You have to realise that a reader has limited time and attention, they canβt read your mind, theyβre not interested in what youβre interested in, etc
- So idk, this is just on my mind.
- DFW also said in the interview that Iβm thinking of, that the two worst kinds of students were the two extremes. On the one hand, a student who is absolutely entranced by their own stuff, and couldnβt imagine other readers not being as blown away by it as them. And the other kind who is paralysed by thinking that nothing they have to say is worth saying, that itβll have been said before. And David says that heβs a weird blend of both of these (which sounds relatable!)