threnody

David Foster Wallace killed himself in his home today. In this article about his passing, the author uses the word "threnody" which is just the most awesome word but in the sentence sounds like the author totally made it up to describe some feeling that he couldn't explain ("Although his books can be uproariously, laugh-out-loud funny, a dark threnody of sadness and despair also runs through Mr. Wallace’s work"). When I clicked on the word itself, highlighting the word because I liked the way it looked and didn't know what it meant, it immediately linked to a reference page telling me that threnody means "A poem or song of mourning or lamentation." Impressive. Each word on the page can do that.

Seems like there's a threnody ringing out there in the world of books right now...for their lack of relevance, for their hefty silences, for their inability to catch "users" the way that the article with all of its links could. For the burdened minds of great people that somehow lead to tragedy.

Or it could just be for the state of my job search.