Ivan looks and behaves like David Foster Wallace (and even plays tennis!) Bernard's jealousy of Ivan is actually a metaphor for talent.
Jesse Eisenberg played Rolling Stones reporter David Lipsky a few years later on "The End of the Tour" to interview David Foster Wallace. Lipsky's admiration for David Foster Wallace is like an extension of Walter's affection for Bernard in "The Squid and the Whale."
That said, in "The Squid and the Whale," Jesse Eisenberg's dad admired David Foster Wallace, whom he directly admired in "The End of the Tour." So David Foster Wallace is actually a great writer whom Noah Baumbach, played by Jesse Eisenberg, looks up to as a father.
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