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David Foster Wallace Facts

David Foster Wallace Facts
David Foster Wallace was an American writer best known for his novel Infinite Jest, published in 1996, and named one of the top 100 English novels from 1923 to 2005. He was born On February 21st, 1962 in Ithaca, New York to James Donald Wallace, a university philosophy professor, and Sally Jean Foster, a college English professor. He grew up in Illinois, as his family moved there when he was still young. He later attended Amherst College in Massachusetts. His senior English thesis was his novel The Broom of the System. While still at college David began to battle depression, but managed to go on to receive his B.A. and then earned his master's degree in creative writing from the University of Arizona.
Interesting David Foster Wallace Facts:
David Foster Wallace became a regionally ranked tennis player while growing up in Illinois.
David Foster Wallace's thesis, The Broom of the System, that he wrote while at Amherst College was published in 1987 while he was attending graduate school.
In 1989 David Foster Wallace's short story collection titled Girl with Curious Hair was published.
After graduating from the University of Arizona David went on to study philosophy at Harvard University but soon chose to leave. He moved to Syracuse to be with the poet and novelist Mary Karr.
While in Syracuse David Foster Wallace wrote most of his famous novel Infinite Jest. The finished book was 1,100 pages long. The novel dealt with addiction, art, and consumerism, and was set in the near future.
Infinite Jest brought universal acclaim and hit many 'best of' lists across the country.
The quality of the writing in David Foster Wallace's novel Infinite Jest brought comparisons to the work of Thomas Pynchon, William Gaddis and Don DeLillo.
Following the critical acclaim of Infinite Jest, David was given a variety of journalistic work from magazines such as Harper's, and The Atlantic.
In 2004 David Foster Wallace married a painter named Karen L. Green.
David Foster Wallace wrote three novels that were published. The Broom of the System (1987) and Infinite Jest (1996) were published during his lifetime while The Pale King was published in 2011 after his death, despite not being finished.
David Foster Wallace wrote three short story collections including Girl with Curious Hair (1989), Brief Interviews with Hideous Men (1999) and Oblivion: Stories (2004).
David Foster Wallace authored several non-fiction works including A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again (1997), Up, Simba! (2000), Everything and More (2003), Consider the Lobster (2005), This Is Water (2009), Fate, Time and Language (2011), Both Flesh and Not (2012).
David Foster Wallace covered the September 11 attacks in the United States for the magazine Rolling Stone.
David Foster Wallace's work has appeared in The New Yorker, GQ, The Paris Review, Esquire, Harper's Magazine, and Mid-American Review, among many other prestigious periodicals.
David Foster Wallace lost his battle with depression and committed suicide in 2008. He was 46 years old.
David Foster Wallace received a variety of awards for his work including the Aga Khan Prize for Fiction in 1997, Time magazine's Best Books of the Year in 1996, Salon Book Award in 1996, the Lannan Literary Award in 1996, and was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize in 2012.


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