David Foster Wallace, 1962-2008

The New York Times is running an article saying that David Foster Wallace has killed himself at his home in Clarement, California. He was 46.
I have long aspired to tackle his Infinite Jest. As a great fan of his short work, both fiction and non-fiction, I've long been intimidated by what I'm told is a novel of astonishing breadth and scope. I'm sorry that he'll never write another.

Sad sad news. He was a unique talent.

I just put down Infinite Jest, which I'm in the middle of, to log on and check Talk.

That is incredibly sad news.

Fuck that shit.

I just heard. I'm stunned.

How horrible. I was looking forward to a long career with many new works.

I just saw a tiny article about this in the newspaper and am stunned. He could be a maddening writer (the ending of The Broom of the System being a case in point), but he was an amazingly gifted one with a voice like no other. I am so sad about this.

I'm writing here to share my sadness. As artist, he gave me something - an amazing original novel, and now...The world is a bit worst. Again.

I had the pleasure of knowing David a bit in an earlier, younger life, at college. His voice, his humor and his intelligence remained genuine and sincere to the end, but they do regularly battle with the dark. I hope that his stone will read "the greatest writer of footnotes and annotations to have ever written in the English language."

Did he put his head in the microwave as per Infinite Jest? I found the book hard going but can recognize the talent behind it.

Re my message 10# I can see that it comes across as flippant and unfeeling which it wasn't meant to be. I would not wish to make light of anyone's death. Just that I've always remembered the microwave suicide in the early chapters of the book mentioned — it always struck me as very funny.

No, he hanged himself.

>10 PossMan:,11

The odd bit about the whole thing to me is that it seems the whole microwave bit in Infinite Jest seems to point at the absurdity of suicide.

Of course, there's also the part where he writes about suicide being akin to those who jump from burning buildings - no one but those who have felt the heat of the flames could possibly understand why someone would jump to almost certain death.

I have only a few hundred pages left of Infinite Jest, but I'm finding it hard to pick it up now.

I read Infinite Jest earlier this year and thought it was amazing. He put so much of himself in that book. Incredibly sad news.

Of course, there's also the part where he writes about suicide being akin to those who jump from burning buildings - no one but those who have felt the heat of the flames could possibly understand why someone would jump to almost certain death.

"Good Old Neon" from Oblivion speaks directly to the issue.

The Believer has reposted a 2003 from DFW... Link here.

Harper's makes available all of its DFW content.

Thanks for the links, Jesse. I had always meant to read DFW, and unfortunately only now I'm doing it. Everyone who's interested in politics should read his reporting from the trail w/McCain in 2000 for Rolling Stone. It's still timely and great fun!

Also, he's been commemorated in The Onion.

The Future of the American Idea from The Atlantic, 11/07.

Many of the right questions here. Thanks for the link.