Shipping Out and Into the Heart of Darkness
I was relieved when I found out in Tom Scocca’s interview with David Foster Wallace that Harper’s magazine had the writer cut in half what was a 110-page article. I enjoyed reading the magazine’s published version, but was also more than ready for the cruise and the article to end when it did. I think I was possibly feeling a little of what Wallace was feeling, which is a credit to his descriptive and precise prose. “Shipping Out: On the (nearly lethal) Comforts of a Luxury Cruise” displays Wallace’s wit, perception, and humor, as well as his affinity for the big word. The article had me going for the dictionary (sybaritic, peripatetic, peripeteia—these latter two are one after the other in my dictionary) about as many times as I laughed out loud (the comparison to Jackie Gleason, the comparison to a corrupt doll, and the trapshooting fiasco). Admittedly, the humor was borderline juvenile at times, but I couldn’t help myself. Being close in age to the writer, I indulged. …show more content…
The cruise ship is depicted as a utopian beehive of endless comfort, entertainment, food—set adrift on the vast seas, away from the terrestrial world of responsibility. I have never been on a cruise, have never had the desire to do so, and, after reading Foster’s take on things, probably never will (over four years on an accident-prone submarine was enough sea time for a lifetime) . Wallace describes the Celebrity Cruises’ Nadir as a “floating wedding cake” (34) and goes into minute detail to describe the crew’s attention to service and cleanliness. Sometimes he seems to overdo it, like with his obsession with Petra’s “mysterious invisible room cleaning” services (46), but, in his overdoing it, you do get a good sense of the ship’s determination to please, along with a little insight into
I was relieved when I found out in Tom Scocca’s interview with David Foster Wallace that Harper’s magazine had the writer cut in half what was a 110-page article. I enjoyed reading the magazine’s published version, but was also more than ready for the cruise and the article to end when it did. I think I was possibly feeling a little of what Wallace was feeling, which is a credit to his descriptive and precise prose. “Shipping Out: On the (nearly lethal) Comforts of a Luxury Cruise” displays Wallace’s wit, perception, and humor, as well as his affinity for the big word. The article had me going for the dictionary (sybaritic, peripatetic, peripeteia—these latter two are one after the other in my dictionary) about as many times as I laughed out loud (the comparison to Jackie Gleason, the comparison to a corrupt doll, and the trapshooting fiasco). Admittedly, the humor was borderline juvenile at times, but I couldn’t help myself. Being close in age to the writer, I indulged. …show more content…
The cruise ship is depicted as a utopian beehive of endless comfort, entertainment, food—set adrift on the vast seas, away from the terrestrial world of responsibility. I have never been on a cruise, have never had the desire to do so, and, after reading Foster’s take on things, probably never will (over four years on an accident-prone submarine was enough sea time for a lifetime) . Wallace describes the Celebrity Cruises’ Nadir as a “floating wedding cake” (34) and goes into minute detail to describe the crew’s attention to service and cleanliness. Sometimes he seems to overdo it, like with his obsession with Petra’s “mysterious invisible room cleaning” services (46), but, in his overdoing it, you do get a good sense of the ship’s determination to please, along with a little insight into