a poop check — Crude joking slang; fine only with friends.
All right. Shit check.The End of the Tour · 2015 — 第 15 / 17 章 · 3'41" · B2
Lipsky Asks Wallace About Heroin, Explained：autobiographical
The interview turns into an interrogation. Lipsky asks about the rumor that Wallace used heroin at Harvard, and Wallace pushes back hard, then insists the truth is duller: "I never was a heroin addict." He admits a breakdown and heavy drinking, but says his real addiction was television — and something worse he keeps almost hidden.
あらすじ
On his last day, Lipsky asks Wallace directly about the rumor that he used heroin at Harvard. Wallace denies it flatly, says the drug material in his novel is a metaphor and not autobiographical, and describes the real story: depression, drinking used as anesthesia, a stay in a bare room where he was watched through a slot in the wall.
注目の表現
shit checkautobiographicalheroin addicthad a breakdown
00:00 / 03:41Space 再生 · ← → セリフ移動 · R リピート
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このシーンの表現
autobiographical
based on one's own life
The reporter reads the drug material as confession; Wallace says it is not autobiographical.
His poems are deeply autobiographical.
このシーンの他の表現
- shit check
a poop check
- heroin addict
a heroin user who is addicted
- had a breakdown
suffer a mental collapse
- reticence
reluctance to speak
- addiction to television
being hooked on TV
このシーンのメモ一覧
61 行のセリフに 23 件のメモ
even the best have this happen
It's all right. It happens to the best of us. Huh, boy?reason is because: The reason is because is common in speech though some call it redundant.
The reason it is so hard to believe is because there is so much...based on one's own life
The reporter reads the drug material as confession; Wallace says it is not autobiographical.
That doesn't mean that it's autobiographical.The t in don't links into believe.
You don't believe a fuckin' word that I've said, do you?fucking, as an intensifier — Vulgar intensifier; only when angry or very casual.
You don't believe a fuckin' word that I've said, do you?become mixed up in
you got involved with drugs, and you had some kind of breakdown.suffer a mental collapse
Asked about a breakdown, Wallace refuses the label and says he was deeply depressed.
you got involved with drugs, and you had some kind of breakdown.be unrelated to
I told you that. It had nothing to do with drugs.inject with a needle
And I would never stick a needle into my arm...begin, get going
Okay, so how do you think that rumor got started?were to subjunctive: If plus were to imagines a hypothetical future action.
And I'm telling you, if you were to structure this as some sort of like, "and then he spiraled into terrible addiction" sort of thing, it would be inaccurate.the more...the more: The more...the more links two changes that rise together.
The more unhappy I got, the more I would drink.The d in would often drops before drink.
The more unhappy I got, the more I would drink.employ as
There was no joy in that drinking. I used it for anesthesia.press any harder
All right. I'm not gonna push much further. Sorry.main addiction
My primary addiction my entire life has been to television.be of + noun: Be of interest means the same as be interesting, but more formal.
is of far less interest to your readers than something like heroin...circulate around
that's swirlin' around here is you want to have the best fuckin' article you can have.carry to the end
who had really exhausted a couple other ways to live, had really taken them to their conclusion.The final n links straight into in.
Which for me was a pink room with a drain in the center of the floor, which is where they put me for an entire day when they thought that I was gonna kill myself.nothing on — Slurred speech for nothing on; not for writing.
Where I got nothin' on. I got someone observing me through a slot in the wall.different options
to examine some other alternatives for how to live.「Lipsky Asks Wallace About Heroin」を読み解く
What's really going on
The rumor is not really about drugs; it is about who gets to define Wallace's life. Lipsky has read the book, and the book is full of addiction, so he pushes. Wallace insists that fiction and biography are different things — "That doesn't mean that it's autobiographical" — and offers a flatter, harder truth. He drank to numb himself: "There was no joy in that drinking. I used it for anesthesia." The pink room, with its drain and its observation slot, is the memory he cannot make glamorous. What he resists is not the story but the shape of it: an 'and then he spiraled into terrible addiction' arc. He wants the version without the mythos, even though he knows the myth is what would make the article sell.
Theme
IdentityWallace fights the rumor because it would replace the life he actually lived with a more sellable one.
LiesA false rumor about heroin is more interesting to readers than the real story of depression.
このチャプターで学べること
- A denial can be as revealing as a confession.
- He swaps a heavy rumor for an ordinary addiction.
- The pink room is described without self-pity.
- Metaphor is his shield against a literal reading.
発音のポイント
- don't believe — The t in don't links into believe.
- would drink — The d in would often drops before drink.
- drain in — The final n links straight into in.
I was not... I never was a heroin addict.Wallace's flat denial of the rumor: he says he never used heroin, even though his novel is full of drug addiction.
My primary addiction my entire life has been to television.His deflating alternative: the real lifelong addiction is television, which he knows is far less interesting to readers.
There was no joy in that drinking. I used it for anesthesia.How he describes his drinking: not glamorous self-destruction but self-numbing to escape unhappiness.
I have spent most of my life in libraries. I never lived that dangerous kind of life.His self-portrait against the myth: a bookish person, not the reckless, drug-taking writer the rumor describes.
このシーンについての質問
Did David Foster Wallace use heroin?
He denies it directly in the interview, saying he was never a heroin addict. He says the drug material in his novel is a metaphor and not autobiographical.
Why does Lipsky press Wallace about the rumor?
Lipsky is writing a profile and has heard the story about drugs and a breakdown at Harvard, so he asks Wallace to address it on the record, even though Wallace is clearly reluctant.
What did Wallace say actually happened to him?
He says he became deeply depressed and drank more and more, using alcohol as anesthesia. He also describes being placed in a pink room with a drain in the floor, watched through a slot.
Why does Wallace mention his television addiction?
To make the point that some addictions are sexier than others: television is his real lifelong addiction, but it won't confirm the romantic writer-as-addict myth the magazine would prefer.
Does Lipsky believe Wallace's denial?
He never says he believes it, and Wallace reads the silence as doubt, which is what finally pushes him to spell out the depression, the drinking, and the pink room.
人生はローリングストーン · 全 17 章
すべて見る →
次のチャプター · 第 16 章spiritual crisisDavid Foster Wallace on Depression
第 1 章once in a generationLipsky Pitches the Wallace Story
第 2 章out of respectDave Wallace Doesn't Drink
第 3 章shape the impressionWallace and Lipsky First Meeting
第 4 章channel surfingWallace on Why We Feel Empty
第 5 章comes with the territoryWallace on Why He Isn't Married
第 6 章in a heartbeatDave Wallace Offers Lipsky a Room
第 7 章security blanketLipsky Asks About the Bandanna
第 8 章about as sexy asWallace Recalls His Eight Days
第 9 章all downhill from hereWallace Reads at The Hungry Mind
第 10 章make eyes at someoneWallace Calls Lipsky's Girlfriend
第 11 章self-absorbedWallace on Being Shy and Egotistical
第 12 章come on to someoneWallace Tells Lipsky to Stay Away
第 13 章fauxWallace and Lipsky's Parking Lot Fight
第 14 章sleepwalk throughWallace Fears Liking the Attention
再生中 · 第 15 章autobiographicalLipsky Asks Wallace About Heroin
第 16 章spiritual crisisDavid Foster Wallace on Depression
第 17 章put my foot downWallace Dances at a Baptist Church第 15 / 17 章 · 残り約 7 分