a culture that teaches loneliness

After the famous speech on the nature of water (thanks Angi!),
I have been flirting with the idea of reading this book for the last year
(translation: I want to read this book, but am scared of the commitment to such a tome as this).
I love what he said about American culture and loneliness in the following interview.

DFW, on the cusp of literary stardom

Just after Infinite Jest was published, David Foster Wallace came to Boston and did a radio interview with Chris Lydon. Radio Open Source recently unearthed that interview, probably unheard for the past 18 years, and published it on their site.

When I started the book the only idea I had is I wanted to do something about America that was sad but wasn't just making fun of America. Most of my friends are extremely bright, privileged, well-educated Americans who are sad on some level, and it has something, I think, to do with loneliness. I'm talking out of my ear a little bit, this is just my opinion, but I think somehow the culture has taught us or we've allowed the culture to teach us that the point of living is to get as much as you can and experience as much pleasure as you can, and that the implicit promise is that will make you happy. I know that's almost offensively simplistic, but the effects of it aren't simplistic at all.

via {kottke}