David Foster Wallace RIP

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miss buenos aires
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David Foster Wallace RIP

Post by miss buenos aires »

I'm still shaken by this one. Infinite Jest was one of my favorite books as a teenager. If being the greatest writer of your generation doesn't bring happiness... (I know it's a trite thing to say, but I am sad and trite today.)
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Otis Westinghouse
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Re: David Foster Wallace RIP

Post by Otis Westinghouse »

Just seen this in my weekly Google alert for Pynchon cos DFW grew up on him:

http://www.time.com/time/arts/article/0 ... 02,00.html

I haven't read IJ and know next to nothing about him, but I love the title, and assume that growing up reading and loving Pynchon can only lead to greatness. Suicide is always horrendous.
There's more to life than books, you know, but not much more
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migdd
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Re: David Foster Wallace RIP

Post by migdd »

Sad to hear about this. Although I've never read Wallace's works, several authors from my (older) generation have passed in recent months and I understand what his passing might mean for those more familiar with him and his art. In honor of the man, I'm travelling to my local library tomorrow morning to check out a book of his.

Here's an article for the uninitiated:

CLAREMONT, Calif. (Sept. 14) - 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.
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Otis Westinghouse
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Re: David Foster Wallace RIP

Post by Otis Westinghouse »

I wonder was he generally a depressive. It does seem awesomely sad. All that talent and humour but he couldn't carry on among us. Hey ho, it can be such a fucked up world.
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alexv
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Re: David Foster Wallace RIP

Post by alexv »

Very saddened by the loss of this great writer. My friend Chris, whose book collection is legendary, called me upon hearing the news and the you could tell by the tone of his voice as he left the message on my machine how saddened he was by the news. There is something about the early, tragic passing of great writers that affects those who have lived in their fiction in ways that get you in the gut. Wallace was, if anything, an irreverent writer, and I wanted to commemorate his irreverence here by linking this tribute to him from Tennis Magazine, of all places. Wallace was a great junior tennis player, and wrote about tennis with great passion and beauty. I too play and love the game, and it was a joy to read Wallace on tennis. Enjoy.



http://www.tennis.com/features/general/ ... ?id=145230
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Jack of All Parades
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Re: David Foster Wallace RIP

Post by Jack of All Parades »

It is graduation season. For myself, I have never heard nor read a better address to a graduating class then this one delivered at Kenyon College by Wallace. It is approaching five years since his death and I still have trouble coming to grips with his passing. He had to have been suffering from an unbearable mental pain. I deeply miss his clear eyed way of looking at the world and our places in it. Here is a part of that address to the graduating class at Kenyon that day:

http://www.npr.org/blogs/krulwich/2013/ ... ut-freedom
"....there's a merry song that starts in 'I' and ends in 'You', as many famous pop songs do....'
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