R.I.P. David Foster Wallace
 

For those around here who enjoy literature: it was announced about an hour ago that David Foster Wallace, one of the true genius writers of our era, apparently hanged himself Friday night. His is an enormous loss to literature. I've argued before (and will again) that Infinite Jest is the novel of our era, and for those with adult attention spans I'd recommend it.

Wow, awfully sad. guess I owe it to him to give Jest another try, and see if my attention span measures up by now. *sigh*

It seems somehow inappropriate to simply +1 this, but this matches my sentiment. I found his work entertaining and stimulating. If anything, I failed to measure up to the task of completing it.

Fucking shame.

Mrs. A and I were talking about this last night. It certainly puts certain things that he wrote--we were talking specifically of the essay "A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again" (which is a really good essay and one you should read and can be found in the essay collection of the same name) in a different light. There is a deep deep darkness in that essay that I always figured was part of his persona and/or part of what made it so funny. Now, I think that he may have just been really deep and dark.

Also, for those for whom Infinite Jest is a bit of a big bite, I'd recommend starting with his essay collections. There are a few misses in there, but most of them are very good. And they are much more approachable than Infinite Jest.

Fuck. Infinite Jest is an incredible novel, and, like NoMyths, I'll recommend it to anyone who'll listen.

This is so sad.

Wouldn't really say the world was robbed though, since he took his own life. :(

That's a bummer. I've never gotten to Infinite Jest, but really, really enjoyed A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again. I've been meaning to pick it up and reread it for years. He was obviously a brilliant, quirky fellow and that made his writing great. As often is the case, it doesn't always work out so great for the artist.

Pure Onion satire, but surprisingly heartfelt (behind the premise, at least):

NASCAR Cancels Remainder Of Season Following David Foster Wallace's Death | The Onion - America's Finest News Source

Wow. I am actually reading Consider the Lobster right now.

I had no idea... Off to find out more....

For anyone interested (and tough) here's a really good read about DFW. Hard to imagine what his life must have been like.

Life and Letters: The Unfinished: Reporting & Essays: The New Yorker

I also understand that a last novel will be published in the upcoming year, which may be mentioned in the article (I've not read it yet). Looking forward to being intimidated by his prose again.

Jesus, in reading the article I just discovered that I got hit on by an ex-girlfriend of his. I'm not really sure how to process that information.

His death still shocks me. every time im reminded of it, I get all emotional. I can see myself reading Infinite Jest every few years for the rest of my life, its that good.

Dammit

Context here?