David Foster Wallace Is Dead
09-13-08, 11:02 PM
#1
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David Foster Wallace Is Dead
Writer David Foster Wallace found dead at home
CLAREMONT, Calif.—David Foster Wallace, the author best known for his 1996 novel "Infinite Jest," was found dead in his home, according to police. He was 46.
Wallace's wife found her husband had hanged himself when she returned home about 9:30 p.m. Friday, said Jackie Morales, a records clerk with the Claremont Police Department.
Wallace taught creative writing and English at nearby Pomona College.
"He cared deeply for his students and transformed the lives of many young people," said Dean Gary Kates. "It's a great loss to our teaching faculty."
Wallace's first novel, "The Broom of the System," gained national attention in 1987 for its ambition and offbeat humor. The New York Times said the 24-year-old author "attempts to give us a portrait, through a combination of Joycean word games, literary parody and zany picaresque adventure, of a contemporary America run amok."
Published in 1996, "Infinite Jest" cemented Wallace's reputation as a major American literary figure. The 1,000-plus-page tome, praised for its complexity and dark wit, topped many best-of lists. Time Magazine named "Infinite Jest" in its issue of the "100 Best English-language Novels from 1923 to 2005."
Wallace received a "genius grant" from the MacArthur Foundation in 1997.
In 2002, Wallace was hired to teach at Pomona in a tenured English Department position endowed by Roy E. Disney. Kates said when the school began searching for the ideal candidate, Wallace was the first person considered.
"The committee said, 'we need a person like David Foster Wallace.' They said that in the abstract," Kates said. "When he was approached and accepted, they were heads over heels. He was really the ideal person for the position."
Wallace's short fiction was published in Esquire, GQ, Harper's, The New Yorker and the Paris Review. Collections of his short stories were published as "Girl With Curious Hair" and "Brief Interviews With Hideous Men."
He wrote nonfiction for several publications, including an essay on the U.S. Open for Tennis magazine and a profile of the director David Lynch for Premiere.
Born in Ithaca, N.Y., Wallace attended Amherst College and the University of Arizona
CLAREMONT, Calif.—David Foster Wallace, the author best known for his 1996 novel "Infinite Jest," was found dead in his home, according to police. He was 46.
Wallace's wife found her husband had hanged himself when she returned home about 9:30 p.m. Friday, said Jackie Morales, a records clerk with the Claremont Police Department.
Wallace taught creative writing and English at nearby Pomona College.
"He cared deeply for his students and transformed the lives of many young people," said Dean Gary Kates. "It's a great loss to our teaching faculty."
Wallace's first novel, "The Broom of the System," gained national attention in 1987 for its ambition and offbeat humor. The New York Times said the 24-year-old author "attempts to give us a portrait, through a combination of Joycean word games, literary parody and zany picaresque adventure, of a contemporary America run amok."
Published in 1996, "Infinite Jest" cemented Wallace's reputation as a major American literary figure. The 1,000-plus-page tome, praised for its complexity and dark wit, topped many best-of lists. Time Magazine named "Infinite Jest" in its issue of the "100 Best English-language Novels from 1923 to 2005."
Wallace received a "genius grant" from the MacArthur Foundation in 1997.
In 2002, Wallace was hired to teach at Pomona in a tenured English Department position endowed by Roy E. Disney. Kates said when the school began searching for the ideal candidate, Wallace was the first person considered.
"The committee said, 'we need a person like David Foster Wallace.' They said that in the abstract," Kates said. "When he was approached and accepted, they were heads over heels. He was really the ideal person for the position."
Wallace's short fiction was published in Esquire, GQ, Harper's, The New Yorker and the Paris Review. Collections of his short stories were published as "Girl With Curious Hair" and "Brief Interviews With Hideous Men."
He wrote nonfiction for several publications, including an essay on the U.S. Open for Tennis magazine and a profile of the director David Lynch for Premiere.
Born in Ithaca, N.Y., Wallace attended Amherst College and the University of Arizona
09-14-08, 08:33 AM
#5
DVD Talk Gold Edition
Sad news to hear.
As an aside,I had just once again picked up my copy of 'Infinite Jest' to try and work my way through it (while the footnotes are entertaining, flipping back and forth 5 times a page makes for a long read).
As an aside,I had just once again picked up my copy of 'Infinite Jest' to try and work my way through it (while the footnotes are entertaining, flipping back and forth 5 times a page makes for a long read).
Last edited by The Dude; 09-14-08 at 08:35 AM.
09-14-08, 06:54 PM
#7
DVD Talk Special Edition
I also have been grieving. Infinite Jest is one of those books that will stick with me forever. Read at the right time, right place, I guess... but I loved every word of it. I'm of the opinion that if you have to ask, "Do I have to read the endnotes?!" then it isn't for you.
I doubt I will ever pick up a book again which struck me as so funny, sad, human and humane, simple and complex, and just so damn earnest at the same time. I find this terribly disappointing and bleak. While you can go play around with Pynchon, Gaddis or George Saunders to get parts of Wallace (and sure, those books are some of my favorites, too, they sure are no replacement for DFW.
If anybody has been touched by his death on any level outside of his writing, my utmost condolences to you as well.
p.s.: on the fence in this election? He has an enlightening, attemptedly-unbiased essay ("Up, Simba") on Senator McCain in his most recent selection of essays (Consider the Lobster). Rolling Stone sent some journalists out in the 2000 election to cover the on-the-road life and times of some presidential nominees -- Wallace chose McCain. It's a fun read.
I doubt I will ever pick up a book again which struck me as so funny, sad, human and humane, simple and complex, and just so damn earnest at the same time. I find this terribly disappointing and bleak. While you can go play around with Pynchon, Gaddis or George Saunders to get parts of Wallace (and sure, those books are some of my favorites, too, they sure are no replacement for DFW.
If anybody has been touched by his death on any level outside of his writing, my utmost condolences to you as well.
p.s.: on the fence in this election? He has an enlightening, attemptedly-unbiased essay ("Up, Simba") on Senator McCain in his most recent selection of essays (Consider the Lobster). Rolling Stone sent some journalists out in the 2000 election to cover the on-the-road life and times of some presidential nominees -- Wallace chose McCain. It's a fun read.
09-16-08, 09:37 AM
#8
DVD Talk Hero
Damn, that's fucked up.
I've been away all weekend so this thread is the first I'd heard about this. (When I saw the "David Foster Wallace is Dead" thread title, I thought he had a new book coming out or something.)
Never got around to reading "Infinite Jest," though I've had a copy for sitting in my bookcase for about eight years. I remember enjoying "Broom of the System" and "The Girl with the Curious Hair" quite a bit.
I've been away all weekend so this thread is the first I'd heard about this. (When I saw the "David Foster Wallace is Dead" thread title, I thought he had a new book coming out or something.)
Never got around to reading "Infinite Jest," though I've had a copy for sitting in my bookcase for about eight years. I remember enjoying "Broom of the System" and "The Girl with the Curious Hair" quite a bit.
09-18-08, 02:24 PM
#9
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remembering david foster wallace at slate.com.
this one comment describes his work perfectly:
this one comment describes his work perfectly:
Technical complexity, a turnoff to most, was Wallace's bread and meat. He was never interested in the kind of truths that you could sum up in 10 words—which is why it's so hard to quote Wallace 10 words at a time. You usually get something as inert as a single line of a long proof.
Last edited by kms_md; 09-18-08 at 02:34 PM.
