David Foster Wallace: 1962-2008
It's a dark night for the literary world as news of the September 12 death of award-winning author David Foster Wallace spreads. He had committed suicide and was found in his Claremont, California, home by his wife. He was 46. From his first novel, The Broom of the System (1987), to his most recent work, McCain's Promise (an expansion of his 2000 campaign caravan essay), Wallace's body of work included novels, stories, essays, and nonfiction, and he never failed to challenge readers with his fierce intelligence and dynamic (and footnote-friendly) post-modern style. His groundbreaking work, though, was 1996's Infinite Jest, a sprawling 1,000-pages-plus novel that remains one of the most ambitious contemporary novels of our time.
DFW's brilliance was on display in so many of his memorable essays and humor pieces that covered topics as varied as tennis and the Illinois State Fair to David Lynch and lobsters. The title story from his if-you've-never-read-it-please-stop-what-you're-doing-and-pull-it-off-the-bookshelf-this-very-moment A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again chronicled his misadventures on a luxury cruise and is one of the funniest things you'll ever read.
I discovered Wallace like most readers did, with Infinite Jest (I had recently completed my MFA program in New York when it came out and it was definitely the book I remember many of my friends and fellow writing students hefting around). Then I went back to Broom of the System and Girl With Curious Hair. And in my pre-Amazon days when I worked in a bookstore, A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again was my hands-down favorite title to hand-sell to customers. I can visualize exactly where it was shelved in the far back corner of the store (where I always made sure to face out its bright yellow cover when I was shelving in the "W"s).
In the coming days more will be said and shared about David Foster Wallace, but tonight it's simply heartbreaking to hear such awful news.
--BTP
New York Times Obituary
LA Times Obituary
David Foster Wallace on Charlie Rose
Books by David Foster Wallace
Hector Parra on September 14, 2008 at 01:55 PM
Sir:
Thanks for your comment.
I read Mr Foster Wallace in Chile. “Infinite jest”, in translation to Spanish, is a superb USA's portait.