Follow this tribute and get updates
User avatar
Eleonora
15 years ago

I fell more alone cause David is not any more here. Reading his works I found them very creative, original, ironic, authentic, magnetic, such gorgeous; but one of the most rare and exceptional experience I made every time I read his books, besides being illuminated by his geniality, it's like staying together whit a dear and very special friend, and, closing his book, is like leaving the genial friend when I would like to continue to heard his story, his thoughts, his creative way to tell everything. His humanity was deep and spontaneous, he could look at the characters and at the people that describes in a very profound way and, at the same time, in a delicate one. All whit a great intelligence and irony. Thank you David! I'll miss you. Eleonora

User avatar
Julie M
15 years ago

Tragic to think he would have to hang himself! I have suffered depression many years with mental and physical anguish daily and it wasn't until the love of Jesus saved me and set me free! I pray his loved ones will seek Him and ask for comfort and peace! Jwls

User avatar
watergirl
15 years ago

David Foster Wallace is brilliant. I have to keep a dictionary at my side when reading his essays. So many words that never get out and get exercised... In reading 'A Supposedly Funny Thing...." I think I have convinced myself that it was the math genie that caused his desperation. Having suffered from bi-polar disorder and major depression, I can surely understand the overwhelming and compelling desire to stop the turmoil and pain inside. My little inner voice used to attempt to convince me of this constantly when it felt I was sliding down into the cavernous darkness with my nails firmly planted in the dirt and losing my grip. My brain would send me creative solutions at ending my life. It was like a compulsion I could not control. It was the desire for relief from the torture. I read that his father said that he had been medicated for many years and was able to cope until about 2 years ago and he had struggled since. It must have been physically, mentally and spritually exhausing. Being a "genius" is a heavy mantle to bear. I pray he has found rest and peace in the ether. He will remain with us through his amazing words.... Sail on, David Foster Wallace

User avatar
K.G. Griffiths
15 years ago

No disrespect is intended by the title of this reminiscence. Some disgust, yeah. But that's momentarily. David Foster Wallace, like most holy fools, decided that it was necessary to leave no stone unturned to Figure Out What it Was All About. Thus his tendency to be verbose and hyperbolic. Like Jack Kerouac, one writer to whom he is not usually compared. But he, like Kerouac, was right; when you're trying to figure out what the immense imponderable Thing was that just lumbered by, crushing just about everything in its path, do you scrimp on time to gather clues? Not Wallace. As Coltrane once told Miles Davis one night after 'Trane's solo went on about 40 bars further than Davis would have preferred in some jazz club back in the late 1950s, "It took that long to get it all in." Regrettably, sometimes one finds out that what just passed is something one wasn't hoping to see. Other times, it's just Life writ large. Either way, it's better to be informed, in case whatever it was decides to come back. Now for the 'screw' part. It's about taking one's life. The late Japanese author Yukio Mishima once commented that if one is to do so, best not to leave a note: 'A silent death is an endless word." I mentioned this to my Dad once, and he asked, "Huh. Wonder what word?" I suggested, ''Screw you'?" "Nah," he replied. "That's two words." Where Wallace is concerned, remember the words that do have endings. The author is what's left after the writing is done. The author, I believe, would prefer you remember the words. RIP DFW.

User avatar
Mike Moore
15 years ago

The word “genius” has been so overused in the last 30- or so years, applied as it is to everything from this month’s most popular rap singer to political campaign strategists, that it is now nearly devoid of meaning; yet, I can’t think of a word that describes David Foster Wallace more accurately. Apart from any aesthetic judgment about his creativity and style, it was clear to anyone that he was just a flat-out genius by any objective assessment. His education was in Fine Arts, but his writing reflects knowledge and understanding and perhaps even commandof a multitude of disciplines, from mathematics to medicine, to a degree that can only be achieved by someone with a truly rare intellectual gift. And what he did with words, and imagination, was simply startling. My jaw literally dropped the first time I read him, and it has never stopped dropping each time I picked up something of his to read. It is sad that he was in pain, and it is sad that we shall not have more of him. We should be thankful for what we do have and for what will be a vital inspiration to other authors. My sympathies go out to his family and friends. Mike Bismarck, North Dakota

User avatar
ubik
15 years ago

Ti Ho Voluto Bene. Mi Mancherai.

User avatar
Mario Valentino
15 years ago

David Foster Wallace's darkly comic observations of the absurdities of (post) modern life have earned him notoriety as a great American satirist, while catapulting his books onto the bestseller lists. Series: "Artists on the Cutting Edge" [10/1997] [Arts and Music] [Show ID: 3380]

User avatar
Mario Valentino
15 years ago

David Foster Wallace: "generation"

User avatar
Mario Valentino
15 years ago

David Foster Wallace: "failure"

User avatar
gianpiero
15 years ago

we loved david, his books and his incredible stories we miss u

User avatar
Cindy Lyn
15 years ago

Ouch. I found out about this while watching This Week with George Stephanopoulos on Sunday. The news shook me to my core. DFW was a true literary genius. I spent months of my life immersed in Infinite Jest, finishing the book. It was a sprawling, insanely challenging, hysterically funny, obscenely violent, frequently exasperating, but ultimately profound work. IJ is a part of my life. I subsequently read his short stories. What a gift he was to our society. David Foster Wallace raised the bar for intellectual thinking. This is a huge loss. I'd always hoped that he had another great novel in him. It is so sad that many of the most brilliant literary minds find suicide the only answer. One can only wonder why? My deepest condolences to his wife, family, and friends. DFW, you were too beautiful for this world. Thank you for your words. Rest in peace.

User avatar
DFW-January 2006
15 years ago

User avatar
Marsha P.
15 years ago

Dave was my buddy - my friend and such a wonderful person. He was so kind that he even let me sew up the holes in his jeans! And when he knew he was leaving Bloomington, he asked me to help him put together a party for his friends! I could have sat for hours listening to him talk - he was witty, soft, gentle, wise and brilliant! I shall never forget him. Thanks, Dave, for sharing yourself with all of us. My sincerest heartfelt sorrows to his wife, parents, and sister.

User avatar
Amy
15 years ago

I discovered David Foster Wallace when I was suffering through my own deep depression. "A Supposedly Fun Thing . . . " was the first book I'd read in months that made me laugh out loud. I still haven't made my way through "Infinite Jest," but I've read his essays and articles again and again, to see how he does it, to laugh, to nod my head in agreement, and to be for a few hours with a person who lives in MY world, funny and absurd and tragic and ironic as it is. He made me feel less alone.

User avatar
Laurie
15 years ago

You will think I'm lying, but unfortunately I am not. But I'll get to that in a minute. First, let me say that I read DFW in my personal essay class two years ago and was inspired. It was obvious to me that the essay was my genre, and I have pursued it ever since. Now for the lying part. Today I learned that my mother has a grade 4 glioblastoma brain tumor. After arriving home from the appointment with her doctor I got a call from our family doctor who had results from some blood work done on my three-year-old son. The results say that my beautiful and perfect boy has Type 1 diabetes. After an extended visit to Chuck E Cheese tonight for some much needed levity I checked the web for the latest news and found THIS. I need a drink. Or five. RIP DFW You will be missed.

User avatar
DFW-January 2006
15 years ago

I was fortunate to have attended one of David Foster Wallace's readings and was touched by his humility and his humanity. My deepest sympathy to his family and friends. Sharon

User avatar
richard marius
15 years ago

Such a sad phrase to see in the paper. I was alone on the bus this morning and put it down and couldn't believe it. After having a friend take me to hear David speak in 1996, I was forever changed. The whole time as he was reading I just kept thinking, wow, this guy......he just gets it....life. He spoke to me that day and has since showed me how to view the world with a different lens. You will be missed David, but your effect upon us all will live on. Thank you and my thoughts are with you and your family. -Falconius

User avatar
k. czapranski
15 years ago

i move through this word finding good, bad and indifference everyday, and then i lean rather mightily on the written word to keep me going in the face of it all......and.....mr. foster-wallace was one more significant writer who helped me.............a pen whose words filled me with breath. infinite man..........................

User avatar
Rachel
15 years ago

I'm so terribly sorry. What a world. I was so excited the first time I read a paragraph written by DFW in an online article about him. I immediately went out and read Infinite Jest and most all his other articles and books. Reading him was like seeing fireworks for the first time...excitement and joy so big you laugh out loud. Each page was like a maze filled with magic. I am heartbroken. Damn it all.

User avatar

Thank you DFW for the amazing insights into humanity. I just finished reading Oblivion stories for the second time yesterday and hours later heard the news. My Heart sank. The world is worse off without you. condolences to his wife and family RIP DFW

User avatar
Melissa
15 years ago

I grew up with David. On long drives to tennis tournaments he entertained everyone in the car for hours with unbelievable wit and humor, and the ability to make each of us laugh at him/herself. I was fortunate to reconnect with him as an adult on several occasions; I have saved and cherished a letter he wrote to me 9 years ago, which even then foretold this sad event. Always a selfless and caring person at heart, he will be missed in so many ways. I remember reading Infinite Jest while at thegym years ago, alternately sobbing and laughing out loud. What a gift to have the power to evoke such strong emotions through the written word. To friends, and especially to David's family and wife, my deepest sympathies.

User avatar
Jeffrey Moro
15 years ago

If it weren't for Dave, I really don't think I'd have any understanding of the world around me. It sounds hyperbolic, but the man was a freaking genius--he managed to say so much with so little, and considering how long his works got, it just meant that he was saying so much more than anyone else around him. I willfully gave over months of my life to Infinite Jest, and I'm still reaping the rewards. What hurts me most is that I had just started reading him a little less than a year ago; I was looking forward so eagerly to growing up with the rest of his stories and novels and articles, and probably something from an entirely new literary genre that he would make up some few years down the road. I know I miss him terribly. It's sort of like there's no real justice, that Dave Wallace has to die while hacks like Danielle Steele keep reaping in the cash and the glory and have no real qualms about their existence. Because it's because Dave kept questioning the world around him and why he was alive and why when someone did something he felt the way he did and if that reaction was moral or ethical or if, in the end, it didn't matter, that he was so incredibly brilliant. I hope that someone has the courage (because it requires real, true courage, as Dave taught us all, however hackneyed that sounds) to go where Dave was. And, I guess, in some way, will be, on the page, forever.

User avatar
Debra
15 years ago

David sat with us in our meditation group for awhile when he was here in Illinois. So my memory of him is mostly of his quiet presence while we all wrestled with our lunatic minds. The few words he spoke stood out and made the moment more vivid. Most of the people in the room didn't know that David was a celebrated author so that didn't get in the way of experiencing him just as he was at the moment. I think he enjoyed the anonymity because it relieved him of a burden. We sat in silence for him today. Debra

User avatar
J. Grant
15 years ago

I will always regret the time I used my hard cover copy of 'Infinite Jest' as a foot stool when I had to reach way up to grab a cookie sheet. DFW will always be remembered because I think of him every time.... I hear the Jeopardy theme song, walk past a microwave, overhear someone talking about their cruise vacation etc. etc...

User avatar
J
15 years ago

My favorite thing about Dave is that he was interested in everything and everybody. He'd spend the afternoon pondering quantum physics and then want to go see the movie Blue Crush. He never felt "famous," and let us all know, in writing and in life, that we weren't alone when we struggled with darkness. My heart and prayers go out to Karen and to his family. RIP, Dave.

User avatar
Patricia
15 years ago

User avatar
Patricia
15 years ago

User avatar
Patricia
15 years ago

User avatar
Patricia
15 years ago

User avatar
Patricia
15 years ago

User avatar
S. Levine
15 years ago

David Foster Wallace became my favorite author back when I was an undergrad at Scripps College. I was frustrated that I missed having him as a professor by a year, it would have been amazing. His wit, intellect, and honesty inspired me. I just wish that somehow as a society we could have helped him. Anyone else suffering from depression, please know it can get better, it is tough but there is help.

User avatar

Thanks, David.

User avatar
Ken Vogelbaugh
15 years ago

I met David in AA and was impressed with him as a person who really didn't care too much of the material world. His quest to find peace and serenity was real and all encompassing. I'm sorry that he couldn't conquer the demons that haunted him. He was the smartest person I've ever met,his recall ability of things was incredible. Its a real shame that he couldn't find his peace in this realty. Hopefully he will in the next stage of journey. Ken

User avatar
Lauren B. Davis
15 years ago

Infinite Loss. My heart go out to everyone touched by DFW’s work and his life. Especially, of course, to his wife Karen, his parents and his sister. Both my brothers (alcoholics and drug addicts, bless ‘em) hanged themselves, one just this past April. And I’m a writer with 13 years clean and sober, but I still struggle with depression now and again (are there writers who don’t?). I say this only to assure you that I have some small measure of understanding of the sort of agony you’re in. David’s search for existential understanding, his merciless self-examination, and his quest for a compassionate authenticity were so brave. I reread his story “Good People” this morning – that last line – “to pray for…simple courage…and trust his heart.” His loss is a shard in my heart that rests there next to so many others. My prayers are with you all. Lauren B. Davis "I have loved the stars too fondly to be fearful of the night." Sarah Williams

User avatar
Lisa
15 years ago

Dave was professor, mentor and friend to my son at Pomona. Through reminiscences of a few of his students, I have some insight into who Dave was as a man, not just an author. I'm grateful that more than just his written word will continue to influence those who had the privilege to know him. He is already missed.

User avatar
Luke
15 years ago

Wow. This is so terribly sad. He was such a mind-boggling talent and i use that phrase intentionally. His work was always a challenge to read but there was real payoff. Infinite Jest earned a spot in my top five books and many of his essays still ring in my head years after reading them.

User avatar
Patricia
15 years ago

I'm still at shock at what happened. I really can't believe it. David was an inspirational writer. I looked up to him. I loved Infiinte Jest and recommend it to every devoted reader out there. David work's will continue to be read long after his death.

×
We use technologies like cookies to store and/or access device information. We do this to improve browsing experience and to show (non-) personalized ads. Consenting to these technologies will allow us to process data such as browsing behavior or unique IDs on this site. Not consenting or withdrawing consent, may adversely affect certain features and functions.
Functional Always active
Statistics
Marketing
Accept Deny Manage Save
Privacy Policy