David Foster Wallace

"The light that burns twice as bright, burns half as long." -- Dr. Eldon Tyrell, Blade Runner

On September 14th, I read a post on another forum about the suicide of David Foster Wallace.

I replied: "That guy was one of my absolute favorite writers of all time! This totally sucks. I am very, very sad by this. -deep sigh- "

I remember going outside just then, looking up and the sky, and offering a prayer to God to please grant DFW peace, and if there was an afterlife, that God would give him rest and joy in it. And then I cried.

David Foster Wallace was one of America's best, most creative, and most intelligent authors.

Born in 1962, he graduated from Amherst College majoring in English and philosophy, with a focus on modal logic and mathematics. His philosophy senior thesis on modal logic was awarded the Gail Kennedy Memorial Prize while his English senior thesis eventually became his first novel, Broom of The System. He was brilliant, troubled, and honest - the unfortunate, but all-too-common, mark of any good writer. He has been called "one of the most influential and innovative writers of the last 20 years," and was named one of the Top 100 Novelists since 1923. He has been published in The Paris Review & The New Yorker, among many others. The New York Times called him, "A genius and the greatest young fiction writer of his time."

I would have to agree.

I first became familar with DFW's brilliance after reading his short story, Girl With Curious Hair:

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Gimlet and Big placed drugs on their tongues also and we went driving like greased lightning down the Pacific Coast Highway in reverse until a policeman pulled us over and I was forced to give him a gift of a thousand dollars not to incarcerate Gimlet when she determined that his revolver was in reality a radioactive chemical waste product and attempted to pull it out of his holster and throw it at a palm tree in order to kill it. The officer was a fine and gentlemanly man, however, and was very happy to recieve a cash gift of of a thousand dollars.

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I soon purchased his first book, Broom of the System, and then his massive and exuberent novel, Infinite Jest:

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"I am wonderful fun to talk to. I'm a consumate professional. People leave my parlor in states. You are here. It's conversation time. Shall we discuss Byzantine Erotica?"

"How did you know I'm interested in Byzantine Erotica?"

""You seem to persistently confuse me with someone who merely hangs out a shingle with the word 'Conversationalist' on it, and this operation with a fly-by-night one strung together with chewing gum and twine. You think I have no support staff? Researchers at my beck? You think we don't delve full-bore into the psyches of those for whom we've made appointments to converse? You don't think this fully accredited limited partnership would have an interest in obtaining data on what informs and stimulates on converses?"

"I only know one person who'd ever use 'full-bore' in casual conversation."

"There is nothing casual about a professional conversationalist and staff. We delve. We obtain, and then some. Young Sir."

"Okay. Alexandrian or Constantinian?"

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Despite his brilliance (or perhaps in symbiosis with it) DFW suffered from a lifetime of clinical depression. In the last months before his death, he was in a dark oblivion of depression after he stopped taking his medication due to serious side effects.

I met him in 2004 at the University of Arizona. What I remember most were his eyes: deep, unfathomable eyes that told of years of introspection, suffering, wit, sardonic humor, and breath-taking intelligence. It was like gazing into a deep mountain lake, somewhere high in the Pyrennes perhaps. I brought a copy of his first book (which features a ambiguous cover) and he signed it, "I hate covers that are wholy unconnected to books that they are the cover of. David F. Wallace".

On the website, Rate My Professor, one student wrote of him: "He really cares about helping his students to improve, and I learned a lot from him. Because he's pretty eccentric, his reactions to emotional elements of stories and essays can be kind of mind-boggling. Exhaustingly brilliant, very demanding, definitely worth it if you're serious about writing."

On September 12, 2008, when David Foster Wallace merged with the infinite, he left behind some of the most innovative and creative prose that the planet has experienced. He left behind a loving wife, many friends and supporters, and millions of fans. I count myself as one of the lucky ones who discovered his genius.

If you enjoy brilliant, ironic humor, I encourage you to read his books and get to know the man who will make you laugh, think, and feel.