Tell me about: DFW - David Foster Wallace

[Auden James]

Over here in Germany his second novel Infinite Jest will be published this fall for the first time in a translated edition - in German titled Unendlicher Spaß. It took six years to translate the more than 1000 pages of the English original into a German translation which exceeds the number of 1500 pages! The sheer numbers are intimidating.

However, the book is praised as the one great publication that reveals America and its society in their true shapes.

You can imagine what a buzz is going on here in the media, especially since DFW, sadly, commited suicide on September 12th 2008. So on Saturday in merely a week will be the first anniversary of his death.

On this occasion I want to ask you what you think of DFW as an author and human person. Have you read him? And if yes, do you think that he really was the genius he is made to be? Will his writing stay? Unfortunately, I took real notice of him just recently which is why I don't really know what he wrote like. But I've read something about his life, which was quite tragic to my eyes.

For everyone who wants to get to know more about his person I recommend this article from The New Yorker: David Foster Wallace: The Unfinished
There's also a story from him (that I didn't read yet) availabe on the site of The New Yorker: Good People

So, tell me about David Foster Wallace...

 

[driphoney]

However, the book is praised as the one great publication that reveals America and its society in their true shapes.

So, tell me about David Foster Wallace...

Who?

I'm not a sophisticated 'Merican. The only DFW I know about is Dallas-Ft. Worth.

I guess it's an honor that it took 1000 pages to suss us out. It would truly be depressing if it was a 10 page pamphlet!

There's another dude who tried to explain America to Europeans. Alexis de Tocqueville. Maybe, if you haven't, you ought to read him too, to see how the two contrast and compare and how the past (de Tocqueville) influences the present (ol' DFW.)