The Modern Novel

Biography

David Foster Wallace was born in Ithaca, New York, in 1962. His parents were teachers. He went to Amherst College, where he studied English and philosophy, particularly mathematical logic and then took a Master in Fine Arts at the University of Arizona. By this time he had written and published his first book The Broom of the System. This was followed up by the massive Infinite Jest – over a thousand pages long – which had considerable critical success but may well have fallen into that category of books that are bought and talked about but not read. He continued to write, producing both short stories, a novel and non-fiction and also taught at Pomona College. He had been suffering from depression for many years and had had treatment for it. He killed himself in 2008.

Books about David Foster Wallace

D T Max : Every Ghost Story is a Love Story: A Life of David Foster Wallace

Other links

David Foster Wallace
David Foster Wallace
David Foster Wallace: A Profile
David Foster Wallace (links to his contributions to Harper’s)
The Howling Fantods! (news about Wallace)
David Foster Wallace’s Top Ten List
Inside David Foster Wallace’s Private Self-Help Library
David Foster Wallace’s struggle to surpass”Infinite Jest”
Farther Away Robinson Crusoe,” David Foster Wallace, and the island of solitude
E unibus pluram: television and U.S. fiction (famous Wallace article on contemporary US fiction)
Interview
Interview
Interview
Interview
Interview
Tense Present Democracy, English, and the Wars over Usage (article by Wallace)
David Foster Wallace Demolished (response to above)
Federer as Religious Experience (article by Wallace)
2005 Kenyon Commencement Address (by Wallace)

Obituaries

Exuberant Riffs on a Land Run Amok
David Foster Wallace, Influential Writer, Dies at 46
Postmodern Writer Is Found Dead at Home
In memory of David Foster Wallace, 1962-2008
Infinitely Sad
David Foster Wallace, 1962-2008
David Foster Wallace, 1962-2008
David Foster Wallace, 1962-2008
Writer David Foster Wallace Found Dead
Appreciation: David Foster Wallace 1962-2008
My brusque encounter with David Foster Wallace
Nontraditional Writer David Foster Wallace
The world according to Wallace
David Foster Wallace
David Foster Wallace
David Foster Wallace
In Memoriam: David Foster Wallace ’85 (from his alma mater, Amhurst College)
Reviewing the David Foster Wallace Obituaries: September 14 2008