David Foster Wallace | |
|---|---|
 Wallace in 2006 | |
| Born | (1962-02-21)February 21, 1962 Ithaca, New York, U.S. |
| Died | September 12, 2008(2008-09-12) (aged 46) Claremont, California, U.S. |
| Occupation |
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| Education | Amherst College (BA) University of Arizona (MFA) Harvard University |
| Period | 1987–2008 |
| Genre | |
| Literary movement | |
| Notable works | Infinite Jest (1996) |
| Spouse | |
| Signature | |
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David Foster Wallace (February 21, 1962 – September 12, 2008) was an American writer and professor who published novels, short stories, and essays. He is best known for his 1996 novelInfinite Jest,[1] whichTime magazine named one of the 100 best English-language novels published from 1923 to 2005.[2] In 2008, David Ulin wrote for theLos Angeles Times that Wallace was "one of the most influential and innovative writers of the last twenty years".[3]
Wallace grew up in Illinois. He graduated fromAmherst College and theUniversity of Arizona. His honors thesis at Amherst was adapted into his debut novelThe Broom of the System (1987). In his writing, Wallace intentionally avoidedtropes ofpostmodern art such asirony or forms ofmetafiction, saying in 1990 that they were "agents of a great despair and stasis" in contemporary American culture.Infinite Jest, his second novel, is known for its unconventionalnarrative structure and extensive use ofendnotes.
Wallace published three short story collections:Girl with Curious Hair (1989),Brief Interviews with Hideous Men (1999) andOblivion: Stories (2004). His short stories and essays were published in outlets likeThe New Yorker andRolling Stone magazines, and three collections of his essays were published as books:A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again (1997),Consider the Lobster (2005) andBoth Flesh and Not (2012). Wallace also taught English andcreative writing atEmerson College,Illinois State University, andPomona College.
In 2008, after struggling with depression for many years, Wallace died by suicide at age 46. His unfinished novelThe Pale King was published in 2011 and was a finalist for the 2012Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.
David Foster Wallace was born inIthaca, New York, to Sally Jean Wallace (née Foster) andJames Donald Wallace.[4] The family moved toChampaign–Urbana, Illinois, where he was raised along with his younger sister, Amy Wallace-Havens.[5] His father was a philosophy professor at theUniversity of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.[6] His mother was an English professor atParkland College, a community college in Champaign, which recognized her work with a "Professor of the Year" award in 1996.[7] From fourth grade, Wallace lived with his family inUrbana, where he attended Yankee Ridge Elementary School, Brookens Junior High School andUrbana High School.[8]
As an adolescent, Wallace was a regionally ranked juniortennis player. He wrote about this period in the essay "Derivative Sport in Tornado Alley", originally published inHarper's Magazine as "Tennis, Trigonometry, Tornadoes". Although his parents wereatheists, Wallace twice attempted to join theCatholic Church, but "flunk[ed] the period of inquiry". He later attended aMennonite church.[9][10][11]
Wallace attendedAmherst College, his father's alma mater, where he majored in English and philosophy and graduatedsumma cum laude in 1985. Among other extracurricular activities, he participated inglee club; his sister recalls that he "had a lovely singing voice".[5] In studying philosophy, Wallace pursuedmodal logic and mathematics, and presented in 1985 a senior thesis in philosophy and modal logic that was awarded the Gail Kennedy Memorial Prize and posthumously published asFate, Time, and Language: An Essay on Free Will (2010).[12][13]
Wallace adapted his honors thesis in English as the manuscript of his first novel,The Broom of the System (1987),[14] and committed to being a writer. He toldDavid Lipsky: "WritingThe Broom of the System, I felt like I was using 97 percent of me, whereas philosophy was using 50 percent."[15] Wallace completed aMaster of Fine Arts degree in creative writing at theUniversity of Arizona in 1987. He moved to Massachusetts to attend graduate school in philosophy atHarvard University, but soon left the program.
The Broom of the System (1987) garnered national attention and critical praise. InThe New York Times,Caryn James called it a "manic, human, flawed extravaganza ... emerging straight from the excessive tradition ofStanley Elkin'sThe Franchiser,Thomas Pynchon'sV., [and]John Irving'sWorld According to Garp".[16]
In 1991, Wallace began teaching literature as an adjunct professor atEmerson College in Boston. The next year, at the suggestion of colleague and supporterSteven Moore, Wallace obtained a position in theEnglish department atIllinois State University. He had begun work on his second novel,Infinite Jest, in 1991, and submitted a draft to his editor in December 1993. After the publication of excerpts throughout 1995, the book was published in 1996.
In 1997, Wallace received aMacArthur Fellowship. He also received theAga Khan Prize for Fiction, awarded by editors ofThe Paris Review for one of the stories inBrief Interviews with Hideous Men, which had been published in the magazine.[17]
In 2002, Wallace moved toClaremont, California, to become the firstRoy E. Disney endowed Professor of Creative Writing and Professor of English atPomona College.[18] He taught one or two undergraduate courses per semester and focused on writing.
Wallace delivered the commencement address to the 2005 graduating class atKenyon College. The speech was published as a book,This Is Water, in 2009.[19] In May 2013, parts of the speech were used in a popular online video, also titled "This Is Water".[20]
Bonnie Nadell was Wallace's literary agent during his entire career.[21] Michael Pietsch was his editor onInfinite Jest.[22]
Wallace died in 2008. In March 2009,Little, Brown and Company announced that it would publish the manuscript of an unfinished novel,The Pale King, that Wallace had been working on before his death. Pietsch pieced the novel together from pages and notes Wallace left behind.[23][24]Several excerpts were published inThe New Yorker and other magazines.The Pale King was published on April 15, 2011, and received generally positive reviews.[25] Michiko Kakutani ofThe New York Times wrote thatThe Pale King "showcases [Wallace's] embrace of discontinuity; his fascination with both the meta and the microscopic, postmodern pyrotechnics and old-fashioned storytelling; and his ongoing interest in contemporary America's obsession with self-gratification and entertainment."[26] The book was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize.[27]
Throughout his career, Wallace published short fiction in periodicals such asThe New Yorker,GQ,Harper's Magazine,Playboy,The Paris Review,Mid-American Review,Conjunctions,Esquire,Open City,Puerto del Sol, andTimothy McSweeney's Quarterly Concern.
Wallace wanted to progress beyond theirony andmetafiction associated withpostmodernism and explore apost-postmodern ormetamodern style. In the essay "E Unibus Pluram: Television and U.S. Fiction" (written 1990, published 1993),[28][29] he proposed that television has an ironic influence on fiction, and urged literary authors to eschew TV's shallow rebelliousness:
I want to convince you that irony, poker-faced silence, and fear of ridicule are distinctive of those features of contemporary U.S. culture (of which cutting-edge fiction is a part) that enjoy any significant relation to the television whose weird, pretty hand has my generation by the throat. I'm going to argue that irony and ridicule are entertaining and effective, and that, at the same time, they are agents of a great despair and stasis in U.S. culture, and that, for aspiring fictionists, they pose terrifically vexing problems.
Wallace used many forms of irony, but tended to focus on individual persons' continued longing for earnest, unself-conscious experience and communication in a media-saturated society.[30]
Wallace's fiction combines narrative modes and authorial voices that incorporate jargon and invented vocabulary, such as self-generated abbreviations and acronyms, long, multi-clause sentences, and an extensive use of explanatoryendnotes and footnotes, as inInfinite Jest and the story "Octet" (collected inBrief Interviews with Hideous Men), and most of his non-fiction after 1996. In a 1997 interview onCharlie Rose, Wallace said that the notes were to disrupt the linear narrative, to reflect his perception of reality without jumbling the narrative structure, and that he could have jumbled the sentences "but then no one would read it".[31] Much of Wallace's writing containsphilosophical andmathematical ideas and references.[32][33][34]
D. T. Max has described Wallace's work as an "unusual mixture of the cerebral and the hot-blooded",[35] often featuring multiple protagonists and spanning different locations in a single work. His writing comments on the fragmentation of thought,[36] the relationship between happiness and boredom, and the psychological tension between the beauty and hideousness of the human body.[37] According to Wallace, "fiction's about what it is to be a fucking human being", and he said he wanted to write "morally passionate, passionately moral fiction" that could help the reader "become less alone inside".[38] In his Kenyon College commencement address (later published asThis Is Water), Wallace described the human condition as daily crises and chronic disillusionment and warned against succumbing tosolipsism,[39] invoking the existential values of compassion and mindfulness:
The really important kind of freedom involves attention, and awareness, and discipline, and effort, and being able truly to care about other people and to sacrifice for them, over and over, in myriad petty little unsexy ways, every day. ... The only thing that's capital-T True is that you get to decide how you're going to try to see it. You get to consciously decide what has meaning and what doesn't. ... The trick is keeping the truth up-front in daily consciousness.[40]
Wallace covered SenatorJohn McCain's2000 presidential campaign[41][42] and theSeptember 11 attacks forRolling Stone;[43] cruise ships[44] (in what became the title essay of his first nonfiction book),state fairs, andtornadoes forHarper's Magazine; theUS Open tournament forTennis magazine;Roger Federer forThe New York Times;[45] the directorDavid Lynch and thepornography industry forPremière magazine; thetennis playerMichael Joyce forEsquire; the movie-special-effects industry forWaterstone's magazine; conservative talk radio hostJohn Ziegler forThe Atlantic;[46] and aMaine lobster festival forGourmet magazine.[47] He also reviewed books in several genres for theLos Angeles Times,The Washington Post,The New York Times, andThe Philadelphia Inquirer. In the November 2007 issue ofThe Atlantic, which commemorated the magazine's 150th anniversary, Wallace was among the authors, artists, politicians and others who wrote short pieces on "the future of the American idea".[48]
These and other essays appear in three collections,A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again,Consider the Lobster and the posthumousBoth Flesh and Not, the last of which contains some of Wallace's earliest work, including his first published essay, "Fictional Futures and the Conspicuously Young".[49] Wallace's tennis writing was compiled into a volume titledString Theory: David Foster Wallace on Tennis, published in 2016.[50]
Some writers have found parts of Wallace's nonfiction implausible.Jonathan Franzen has said that he believes Wallace made up dialogue and incidents: "those things didn't actually happen".[51] Of the essays "Shipping Out" and "Ticket to the Fair", John Cook has remarked that in Wallace's nonfiction:
Wallace encounters pitch-perfect characters who speak comedically crystalline lines and place him in hilariously absurd situations...I used both stories [when teaching journalism] as examples of the inescapable temptation to shave, embellish, and invent narratives.[52]
Wallace struggled with depression, alcoholism, drug addiction, andsuicidal ideation, and was repeatedly hospitalized forpsychiatric care.[53] In 2008, his father said that Wallace had suffered frommajor depressive disorder for more than 20 years, and thatantidepressant medication had allowed him to be productive.[54] In 1989, Wallace spent four weeks atMcLean Hospital, apsychiatric institute inBelmont, Massachusetts, affiliated withHarvard Medical School, where he completed a drug and alcoholdetoxification program; he later said his time there changed his life.[53]
In the early 1990s, Wallace dated writerMary Karr. In 2012, Karr described his earlier behavior toward her as obsessive and volatile, alleging that he once threw a coffee table at her and once physically forced her out of a car, leaving her to walk home.[55][56] In 2018, Karr said that the account of Wallace's alleged abuse in D.T. Max's biography of him was "about 2% of what happened"; she claimed that Wallace had kicked her, climbed up the side of her house at night, followed her five-year-old son home from school, and attempted to buy a gun to kill her ex-husband.[57][58][59] In 2015, Karr said that Wallace was violent toward other women he dated,[60] and in 2018, she said that several women, including former students of Wallace, contacted her to share their alleged physical and emotional abuse by Wallace.[58]
In 2002, Wallace met painterKaren L. Green. They married on December 27, 2004.[55][54][61] At the time of Wallace's death, they lived in a house inClaremont, California.[62]
Dogs were important to Wallace,[61][63] and he spoke of opening a shelter for stray canines.[63] According to his friendJonathan Franzen, Wallace "had a predilection for dogs who'd been abused, and [were] unlikely to find other owners who were going to be patient enough for them".[61]
In June 2007, Wallace suffered a physical illness involving severe stomach pains. His doctors believed it was caused by aninteraction of one of his medications with food he had eaten at a restaurant. On his doctor's advice, and out of concern that the drug might be interfering with his writing,[64] Wallace stopped takingNardil (phenelzine), his primary antidepressant.[54][61][65] His depression recurred, and he tried other treatments, includingelectroconvulsive therapy. He eventually went back on phenelzine, but found it ineffective, leaving him with major depressive symptoms.[61]
On September 12, 2008, at age 46, Wallace wrote asuicide note to his wife, arranged part of the manuscript forThe Pale King, and hanged himself on the back porch of his house.[66][62] Memorial gatherings were held at Pomona College,[18] Amherst College, the University of Arizona, Illinois State University, and, on October 23, 2008, at New York University (NYU). Theeulogists at NYU included his sister, Amy Wallace-Havens; his literary agent, Bonnie Nadell;Gerry Howard, editor of his first two books;Colin Harrison, an editor atHarper's Magazine; Michael Pietsch, editor ofInfinite Jest and later works; Deborah Treisman, fiction editor atThe New Yorker magazine; and the writersDon DeLillo,Zadie Smith,George Saunders, Mark Costello,Donald Antrim, andJonathan Franzen.[67][68][69]
In March 2010, it was announced that Wallace's personal papers and archives—drafts of books, stories, essays, poems, letters, and research, including the handwritten notes forInfinite Jest—had been purchased by theUniversity of Texas at Austin. They are held at that university'sHarry Ransom Center.[70]
Since 2011,Loyola University New Orleans has offered English seminar courses on Wallace. Similar courses have also been taught atHarvard University.[71] The first David Foster Wallace Conference was hosted by theIllinois State University Department of English in May 2014; the second was held in May 2015.[72]
In January 2017, the International David Foster Wallace Society and theJournal of David Foster Wallace Studies were launched.[73]
Among the writers who have cited Wallace as an influence areDave Eggers,[74]Jonathan Franzen,[75]Rivka Galchen,Matthew Gallaway,David Gordon,John Green,[76]Porochista Khakpour,[77]George Saunders,[78]Michael Schur,[79]Zadie Smith,[80]Darin Strauss,[81]Deb Olin Unferth,Elizabeth Wurtzel,[82] andCharles Yu.[83]
A feature-length film adaptation ofBrief Interviews with Hideous Men, directed byJohn Krasinski with an ensemble cast, was released in 2009 and premiered at theSundance Film Festival.[84]
The 19th episode of the 23rd season ofThe Simpsons, "A Totally Fun Thing Bart Will Never Do Again" (2012), is loosely based on Wallace's essay "Shipping Out" from his 1997 collection,A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again. The Simpson family takes a cruise, and Wallace appears in the background of a scene, wearing a tuxedo T-shirt while eating in the ship's dining room.
The 2015 filmThe End of the Tour is based on conversationsDavid Lipsky had with Wallace, transcribed inAlthough of Course You End Up Becoming Yourself (2010).Jason Segel played Wallace, andJesse Eisenberg played Lipsky. The film won an Audience Award for Best Narrative Feature at theSarasota Film Festival,[85] and Segel was nominated for theIndependent Spirit Award for Best Male Lead.
"Partridge", a Season 5 episode ofNBC'sParks and Recreation, repeatedly referencesInfinite Jest, of which the show's co-creator,Michael Schur, is a noted fan. Schur also directed the music video forThe Decemberists' "Calamity Song", which depicts the Eschaton game fromInfinite Jest.[86]
Twelve of the interviews fromBrief Interviews with Hideous Men were adapted as a stage play in 2000 by Dylan McCullough. This was the first theatrical adaptation of Wallace's work. The play,Hideous Men, was also directed by McCullough, and premiered at theNew York International Fringe Festival in August 2000.[87]
Brief Interviews was also adapted by director Marc Caellas as a play,Brief Interviews with Hideous Writers, which premiered at Fundación Tomás Eloy Martinez inBuenos Aires on November 4, 2011.[88] In 2012 it was adapted as a play by artistAndy Holden for a two-night run at theICA in London.[89]
The short story "Tri-Stan: I Sold Sissee Nar to Ecko", fromBrief Interviews with Hideous Men, was adapted by composerEric Moe[90] into a 50-minute operatic piece, to be performed with accompanying video projections.[91] The piece was described as having "subversively inscribed classical music into pop culture".[92]
Infinite Jest was performed once as a stage play by Germany's experimental theaterHebbel am Ufer. The play was staged in various locations throughoutBerlin, and the action took place over a 24-hour period.[93]
"Good Old Neon", fromOblivion: Stories, was adapted and performed by Ian Forester at the 2011Hollywood Fringe Festival, produced by the Los Angeles independent theater company Needtheater.[94]
The song "Surrounded by Heads and Bodies", from the albumA Brief Inquiry into Online Relationships byThe 1975, borrows its title from the opening line ofInfinite Jest.[95]Matty Healy, The 1975's lead singer, said in an interview withPitchfork that he was inspired by the novel after reading it during a stint in rehabilitation:[95]
I was reading [Infinite Jest] when I was in rehab. There was no one there. It was me and my nurses, who'd come in and check on me, and then Angela [the protagonist of the song], miles away. I was surrounded by no one, and the book was just open on the front page, as most copies ofInfinite Jest are ... nobody reads [Infinite Jest] all the way! Everyone our age has got a battered, quarter-read copy ofInfinite Jest.
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