Okay, you know, is it weird to get so depressed watching a children’s Christmas special– Oh, wait, I shouldn’t say that. I mean, that’s not a good word. It’s not just “sadness, ” the way one feels sad at a film or a funeral. It’s more of a plummeting quality. Or the way, you know, the way that light gets in winter just before dusk, or the way she is with me. All right, at the height of lovemaking, you know, the very height, when she’s starting to climax, and she’s really responding to you now, you know, her eyes widening in that way that’s both, you know, surprise and recognition, which not a woman alive could fake or feign if you really look intently at her, really see her. And I don’t know, this moment has this piercing sadness to it, of the loss of her in her eyes. And as her eyes, you know, widen to their widest point and as she begins to climax and arch her back, they close. You know, shut, the eyes do. And I can tell that she’s closed her eyes to shut me out. You know, I become like an intruder. And behind those closed lids, you know, her eyes are now rolled all the way around and staring intently inward into some void where l, who sent them, can’t follow. David Foster Wallace
About This Quote

It's a story about a love affair between a college professor and his student. The professor falls in love with her and they have an intense sexual relationship. But as their relationship progresses, she begins to withdraw from him and he finds himself becoming increasingly depressed. He goes to the couch and begins to cry.

He tries to talk to her about his feelings, but she won't open up to him. He thinks that he is losing her and this makes him feel even worse because he can't share his feelings with her and he also has trouble taking care of his own needs. As the story progresses, it becomes clear that this young woman is suffering from depression and that her depression has become so bad that she can't enjoy any sort of pleasure.

She withdraws from the relationship and the professor tries hard to save their relationship by listening to her concerns, but she refuses to open up to him.

Source: Brief Interviews With Hideous Men

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