David Foster Wallace

September 4, 2012 2:30 PM

For the fans, a biography of David Foster Wallace (Also...)
posted by Yellow (13 comments total)

A Portrait of David Foster Wallace as a midwestern author.
posted by timsteil at 3:10 PM on September 4, 2012 [3 favorites]

The Unfinished which appeared in the New Yorker (3/9/09) and is taken from the D.T. Max biography Yellow linked, is excellent. DFW's death still hits me hard.
posted by carmicha at 3:43 PM on September 4, 2012

There was this communal grief over David's death that at least for me was eye-opening: the posts from people comparing his death to that of John Lennon, people speaking about the world as a scarier place without him.(from Also... link)
I never thought of comparing DFW's death with that of John Lennon but it's true, for me it's a fit, both of them a kick in the guts, both clearly a huge loss, both of them sad as hell. Lennon of course had a larger celebrity thus huge memorials in the park or whatever but while Lennon gave us so much of himself, I felt/feel that DFW gave more, revealed more, he really did lay himself open on the page and in his interviews and readings. I felt that I knew him. He just gave so much. I never, ever kept up with his mind and I never, ever would have been able to do so, but I miss him, and I'm sad as hell that he hurt as he did.

DFW's death still hits me hard.
Yeah.
posted by dancestoblue at 4:07 PM on September 4, 2012 [6 favorites]

Every now and then I remember that he is dead and it hurts all over again.
posted by shakespeherian at 4:30 PM on September 4, 2012 [1 favorite]

On Metafilter, previously :
The Lost Years & Last Days of David Foster Wallace
RIP, DFW
"Good People": A new short story by David Foster Wallace.
posted by crunchland at 4:48 PM on September 4, 2012 [3 favorites]

D.T. Max discusses David Foster Wallace
posted by homunculus at 5:20 PM on September 4, 2012 [1 favorite]

I read the book over the weekend. At the end, I really wanted there to be a hug.
posted by gnomeloaf at 5:28 PM on September 4, 2012

David Foster Wallace reading Suicide as a Sort of Present
posted by dancestoblue at 6:48 PM on September 4, 2012 [3 favorites]

I know this is will get an eyeroll from the haters but I feel closest to being the person I want to be when I'm reading his stuff.
posted by neuromodulator at 12:58 AM on September 5, 2012 [7 favorites]

I've enjoyed manyof DFW's essays (particularly the Roger Federer piece), but Infinite Jest struck me as self-indulgent, and was one of the most--if not the most maddening book I've ever read. Suffice it to say, I'm not a huge fan.

HOWEVER, I always find it touching to read fans' heartfelt comments here on MetaFilter about how much his work touched their lives, and it makes me wish it had the same effect on me.
posted by ssmug at 6:13 AM on September 5, 2012

I liked Infinite Jest a lot: The Gately parts are just wonderful as a document of living the AA/NA life. The tennis, spy, and end-note stuff seemed more indulgent, but highly entertaining.
posted by jetsetsc at 9:59 AM on September 5, 2012

I've read IJ twice now and I'm thinking it's going to be a yearly thing. The number of ideas in the book combined with the intensity of feeling and the crispness of the writing... I'm always shocked when I hear the book described as "difficult." It's a huge, Hamlet of a book — but each moment I'm reading it is enthralling.
posted by papercake at 1:19 PM on September 5, 2012

Also: immediately ordered this and the upcoming book of essays upon reading the link.
posted by papercake at 1:20 PM on September 5, 2012