David Foster Wallace
David Foster Wallace (February 21, 1962 – September 12, 2008) was an American writer and professor who wrote novels, short stories, and essays. He is best known for Infinite Jest (1996), a big novel famous for its unusual structure and many endnotes. Time magazine named it one of the 100 best English-language novels published from 1923 to 2005.
Wallace was born in Ithaca, New York, and grew up in Champaign–Urbana, Illinois. His father taught philosophy and his mother taught English. As a teen he was a strong tennis player. He went to Amherst College, where he majored in English and philosophy and graduated summa cum laude. He wrote an honors thesis that became his first novel, The Broom of the System (1987). He then earned an MFA at the University of Arizona and briefly studied philosophy at Harvard.
His first novel, The Broom of the System, received praise from critics. He began work on Infinite Jest in the early 1990s, and it was published in 1996. The book made him famous and established him as a leading voice in American literature. Wallace published three short story collections: Girl with Curious Hair (1989), Brief Interviews with Hideous Men (1999), and Oblivion (2004). His essays appeared in The New Yorker, Harper’s Magazine, Rolling Stone, and other outlets. He also compiled nonfiction books like A Supposedly Fun Thing I’ll Never Do Again (1997) and Consider the Lobster (2005). Wallace taught English and writing at Emerson College, Illinois State University, and Pomona College in California, where he held a named professorship.
Style and ideas: Wallace wanted to move beyond simple irony. He used long sentences, invented terms, and many endnotes to explore big questions about life, happiness, and connection in a media-saturated world. His Kenyon College commencement address, This Is Water (later published as a book), urges readers to pay attention, be compassionate, and choose how to see the world.
Personal life and death: Wallace struggled with depression for many years and spent time in psychiatric care. He died by suicide in 2008 at his home in California. After his death, The Pale King, an unfinished novel he was working on, was published in 2011 to strong reviews.
Legacy: Wallace influenced many writers and thinkers. His personal papers and drafts are housed at the University of Texas at Austin. His work has inspired films and stage adaptations, and his ideas continue to be discussed in universities and in popular culture.
This page was last edited on 2 February 2026, at 11:46 (CET).